Modular battery pack apparatus, systems, and methods

ABSTRACT

Modular sealed battery packs configured to provide enhanced performance and safety features, along with associated apparatus, systems, and methods for monitoring and controlling operation and use of such battery packs and associated coupled devices and systems are disclosed.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This disclosure claims priority under 35 U.S.C. §119(e) to U.S.Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/501,172, entitled MODULARBATTERY PACK APPARATUS, SYSTEMS, & METHODS, filed Jun. 24, 2011, to U.S.Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/521,262, entitled MODULARBATTERY PACK APPARATUS, SYSTEMS, & METHODS, filed Aug. 8, 2011, and toU.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/663,617, entitledMODULAR BATTERY PACK APPARATUS, SYSTEMS, & METHODS INCLUDING VIRAL DATAAND/OR CODED TRANSFER, filed Jun. 24, 2012. The content of each of theseapplications is hereby incorporated herein in its entirety for allpurposes.

FIELD

This disclosure relates generally to modular sealed battery pack systemsfor use in powering portable electronic devices and tools orinstruments. More specifically, but not exclusively, the disclosurerelates to modular sealed battery packs configured to provide enhancedperformance and safety features, along with associated apparatus,systems, and methods for monitoring and controlling operation and use ofsuch battery packs and for transferring code and/or data betweencomputer systems and battery packs or chargers as well as betweenbattery packs and other enabled devices such as tools, instruments, orother electronic devices.

BACKGROUND

Competition to provide new and/or improved portable electronic devicescontinues to increase for both consumer and industrial applications.Consequently, higher density batteries that enable prolonged use and/orhigher output power or duration are in high demand. In someapplications, it is both desirable and necessary to operate anelectronic device at remote locations without access to sources of ACpower, such as electrical outlets, generators, or inverters. Theinherent unpredictability and variability of conditions in many remoteenvironments, such as variations in humidity, precipitation, and/orelevated ambient temperatures during operation and/or storage ofassociated batteries, compounded with the volatile chemistry ofhigh-energy battery cells, creates additional challenges with respect tobattery pack performance and safety.

A common way of providing battery power to portable devices is throughuse of detachable battery packs. Battery packs used to power portableelectronic devices often employ rechargeable Lithium-ion based batterycells, such as Lithium-ion polymer battery (also known as Li-Poly,Li-Pol, or LiPo) cells. While Lithium-ion based battery cells are wellsuited for large-capacity battery applications, increasing the energydensity within battery cells increases the amount of heat that will beexothermically released when the battery cells are discharged. However,if the rate of heat generated within the battery cells exceeds the rateof heat lost to the environment, the risk of explosion, fire, and therelease of hazardous decomposition products increases. Likewise,exposing such a system to elevated external temperatures is equallydangerous. Thus, heat dissipation remains a challenge for high energydensity battery packs.

While various approaches to regulate the internal temperature of batterypacks are known in the art, these approaches may lead to a reduction inperformance and/or an increase in battery pack volume, manufacturingcost, and/or power requirements. For example, some battery packs rely ona temperature feedback shut-off control to regulate the internaltemperature of the battery pack. If the internal temperature of thebattery pack exceeds the recommended operating temperature, the outputof the power supply is automatically adjusted, or the circuit is simplycut off.

Existing battery packs may also rely on forced air and/or liquid coolingsystems to reduce internal battery pack temperature. For example, a fanto blow air, or a pump to move cooling fluid, such as an ethylene glycolmixture, may be used to dissipate heat from the battery cells. However,this approach adds volume to the battery pack, increases manufacturingcosts, and requires energy to run. While some existing unsealed batterypacks have implemented safety valves and/or vents to release heat and/orpressure, these unsealed battery packs may not be safely stored and/oroperated in moist environments. Further, if a conventional battery packfails to dissipate the excess heat at a sufficient rate, there is nosecondary safeguard in place to mitigate the effects of catastrophicfailure.

Accordingly, there is a need in the art to address the above-describedas well as other problems.

SUMMARY

The present disclosure relates generally to a modular battery packapparatus and associated systems, as well as methods for making andusing such apparatus.

In one aspect, the disclosure relates to a battery enclosure. Thebattery enclosure may include, for example, an outer casing assembly.The battery enclosure may further include a thermally conductivestructural housing element. The thermally conductive structural housingelement may be configured to house a battery assembly in an interiorvolume. The thermally conductive structural housing element may includean opening for placement of the battery assembly within the innervolume. The battery enclosure may include a lid element. The lid elementmay be configured to cover the opening in the thermally conductivestructural housing element. The lid element may be configured tomechanically strengthen the thermally conductive structural housingelement. The lid element may include a circuit element disposed toelectrically couple the battery cell to a battery-powered device. Thelid element and/or the thermally structured housing element may includea vent assembly for allowing exchange of gases to and from the interiorvolume while restricting entry of water into the interior volume. Thebattery enclosure may further include one or more memories and one ormore processing elements which may be coupled to the one or morememories. The battery enclosure may further include firmware, software,or other encoded instructions for execution on the processing elementsto measure, monitor, control, and/or store battery operationalinformation and/or coupled device operational information. The memorymay also be configured to store code/instructions for execution on thebattery and/or on coupled devices.

In another aspect, the disclosure relates to a battery system. Thebattery sys—may include, for example, a receiver assembly and a sealedbattery assembly configured to connect to the receiver assembly. Thesealed battery assembly may include an outer casing assembly including asealing assembly configured to seal one or more contacts between theouter casing assembly and the receiver assembly, a thermally conductivestructural housing element configured to house a battery assembly in aninterior volume, the thermally conductive structural housing elementincluding an opening for placement of the battery assembly within theinner volume, a lid element configured to cover the opening in thethermally conductive structural housing element and mechanicallystrengthen the thermally conductive structural housing element, the lidelement including a circuit element disposed to electrically couple thebattery cell to a battery-powered device, and a vent assembly configuredto allow exchange of gases to and from the interior volume and restrictentry of water into the interior volume.

In another aspect, the disclosure relates to an intelligent (Lucid)battery pack. The battery pack may include, for example, a batteryassembly, an electronic circuit element electrically coupled to thebattery assembly, the electronic circuit element configured to determinea battery state or condition, and a housing assembly configured toenclose the battery assembly and electronic circuit element. The housingassembly may include a release latch assembly configured to mechanicallyrelease the battery pack from a connected device and initiatedetermination of the battery state or condition.

In another aspect, the disclosure relates to methods for operating andusing the above described battery apparatus alone or in conjunction withcoupled devices.

In another aspect, the disclosure relates to processor readable mediaincluding instructions for causing a processing element to implement themethods for operating and using the above described battery apparatus.

In another aspect, the disclosure relates to peripheral devices for usein conjunction with the above-described battery apparatus such as tools,instruments, chargers, host devices, and/or other devices and systems.

Various additional aspects, features, and functions are furtherdescribed below in conjunction with the appended drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present disclosure may be more fully appreciated in connection withthe following detailed description taken in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1A is an isometric view of an embodiment of a sealed batteryenclosure;

FIG. 1B is a block diagram illustrating details of an embodiment ofcircuitry that may be incorporated in a sealed battery enclosure lid;

FIG. 2 is an exploded view of the sealed battery enclosure embodiment ofFIG. 1A;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged detailed isometric view of an embodiment of aprinted circuit board (PCB) element, taken from the component sidethereof;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged detailed view of the PCB element embodiment ofFIG. 3, taken from the underside thereof;

FIG. 5 is a vertical section view of the sealed battery enclosureembodiment of FIG. 1A, taken along line 5-5;

FIG. 6 is an isometric view of an embodiment of a battery pack module;

FIG. 7 is an exploded isometric view of the battery pack moduleembodiment of FIG. 6;

FIG. 8A is an exploded isometric view of an embodiment of a bottom caseassembly;

FIG. 8B is an exploded isometric view of an alternate embodiment bottomcase assembly;

FIG. 9 illustrates details of the battery pack module embodiment of FIG.6, showing alignment of the sliding contact seals above the slidingcontact assemblies;

FIG. 10 is a vertical section view of the battery pack module embodimentof FIG. 9, taken along line 10-10;

FIG. 11 is an enlarged detail view of an embodiment of a seal mechanismas shown in FIG. 10;

FIG. 12 is an enlarged detail view of an embodiment of the latch-switchmechanism as shown in FIG. 10;

FIG. 13 is a vertical section view of the battery pack module embodimentof FIG. 9, taken along line 13-13;

FIG. 14 is an isometric view of an embodiment of a battery pack system;

FIG. 15 is an exploded isometric view of details of the embodiment ofFIG. 14;

FIG. 16 is an exploded isometric view of details of the receiver moduleembodiment as shown in FIGS. 14 and 15;

FIG. 17A is an enlarged detailed view of an embodiment of an interfacecircuit mounted to the underside of an alternate embodiment receivermodule;

FIG. 17B is a block diagram illustrating details of an embodiment of aninterface circuit in an intelligent battery system (also denoted as aLucid Battery system);

FIG. 18 is a vertical sectional view of the battery pack systemembodiment of FIG. 14, taken along line 18-18;

FIG. 19 is an isometric view of an alternative embodiment of a batterypack system;

FIG. 20 is an exploded view of the alternative embodiment of FIG. 19;

FIG. 21 is a block diagram illustrating details of a battery packsystem;

FIG. 22 is a flow diagram illustrating an embodiment of a battery packmanagement system and method;

FIG. 23 is a diagram illustrating details of an embodiment of a methodfor providing battery charge state information;

FIG. 24 is a diagram illustrating various modules and elements of anembodiment of a battery pack management system;

FIG. 25 is an isometric view of an embodiment of a battery chargingmodule;

FIG. 26 illustrates the battery charging module embodiment of FIG. 25,taken from the bottom side thereof;

FIG. 27 is an exploded view of the battery charging module embodiment ofFIG. 25;

FIG. 28 is an exploded view of the lower housing half of FIG. 25;

FIG. 29 is an enlarged detailed view of an embodiment of the receivermodule of FIG. 27, taken from the bottom side thereof;

FIG. 30 is a block diagram illustrating details of a battery packcharging system;

FIG. 31A illustrates details of an embodiment of a battery pack chargingsystem;

FIG. 31B illustrates details of an alternate embodiment battery packcharging system;

FIG. 32 illustrates details of an embodiment of the battery pack of 31Areceiving an update from a PC;

FIG. 33 illustrates details of an embodiment of a battery update system;

FIG. 34 illustrates details of an embodiment of a viral programmingsystem;

FIG. 35 illustrates details of an embodiment of an intelligent (Lucid)device such as a tool, instrument, or other electronic device;

FIG. 36 illustrates details of an embodiment of an intelligent (Lucid)battery pack for powering a device such as shown in FIG. 35;

FIG. 37 illustrates details of another embodiment of an intelligent(Lucid) battery pack for powering a device such as shown in FIG. 35;

FIG. 38 illustrates details of an intelligent (Lucid) non-networkedbattery charger;

FIG. 39 illustrates details of another intelligent (Lucid) batterycharger that is network enabled;

FIG. 40 illustrates details of an example connection mechanism forproviding power and transferring code and/or data;

FIG. 41 illustrates details of an example connection mechanism forproviding charging power and transferring code and/or data; and

FIG. 42 illustrates details of an embodiment of a process for providingcontrolled battery output disablement based on improper connected deviceidentification and/or battery or device operational parameters outsideacceptable values.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS Overview

The present disclosure relates generally to modular battery packapparatus and systems, as well as methods for making and using suchapparatus and systems. Various embodiments of the present disclosure mayprovide a modular battery pack and associated system with an improvedsafety profile and performance.

For example, in one aspect the disclosure relates to a batteryenclosure. The battery enclosure may include, for example, an outercasing assembly. The battery enclosure may further include a thermallyconductive structural housing element. The thermally conductivestructural housing element may be configured to house a battery assemblyin an interior volume. The thermally conductive structural housingelement may include an opening for placement of the battery assemblywithin the inner volume. The battery enclosure may include a lidelement. The lid element may be configured to cover the opening in thethermally conductive structural housing element. The lid element may beconfigured to mechanically strengthen the thermally conductivestructural housing element. The lid element may include a circuitelement disposed to electrically couple the battery cell to abattery-powered device. The lid element and/or the thermally structuredhousing element may include a vent assembly for allowing exchange ofgases to and from the interior volume while restricting entry of waterinto the interior volume. The battery enclosure may further include oneor more memories and one or more processing elements which may becoupled to the one or more memories. The battery enclosure may furtherinclude firmware, software, or other encoded instructions for executionon the processing elements to measure, monitor, control, and/or storebattery operational information and/or coupled device operationalinformation. The memory may also be configured to storecode/instructions for execution on the battery and/or on coupleddevices.

The thermally conductive structural housing element may include, forexample, a metal. The thermally conductive structural housing elementmay be made in the form of a casting and/or machined assembly. The metalmay be aluminum or an aluminum alloy. The metal may be copper or acopper alloy. The metal may be zinc or a zinc alloy. The metal may beanother metal or metals and/or a combination of metals. The thermallyconductive structural housing element may include a flame retardantplastic material. The thermally conductive structural housing elementmay include a plurality of heat dissipation fins. The thermallyconductive structural housing element may include one or more aperturesconfigured to allow light transmission from the interior volume. One ormore LEDs or other optical and/or acoustic elements may be disposed toprovide output through the one or more apertures.

The battery enclosure may include, for example, a sealing element. Thesealing element may be positioned between the thermally conductivestructural housing element and the lid element to provide a waterproofseal of the interior volume. The sealing element may include a foamlayer. The sealing element may include an O-ring. One or more additionalsealing elements may be included to provide sealing of additionalvolumes within the battery enclosure.

The lid element may include, for example, a circuit assembly. Thecircuit assembly may be a printed circuit board (PCB) assembly or othercircuit assembly or module. The lid element may include a PCB exteriorlayer and a metallic interior layer. The lid assembly may include ametal clad printed circuit board (MCPCB). The PCB exterior layer mayinclude a flame retardant material. The flame retardant material may bea fiberglass reinforced epoxy laminate material (FR4) or other flameretardant material. The PCB may include a surface mount connectordisposed to connect the battery assembly to the circuit assembly. ThePCB may include one or more contact assemblies disposed to electricallycouple the battery assembly to the battery-powered device. The one ormore contact assemblies may be configured to provide a contact cleaningor wiping action during a connection with the battery-powered device soas to maintain or improve electrical conductivity between the batteryenclosure and coupled devices. The one or more contact assemblies mayinclude four contact assemblies. The one or more contact assemblies mayinclude a plurality of contact assemblies, wherein a first subset of theplurality of contact assemblies may be configured to provide anelectrical power connection between the battery assembly and thebattery-powered device and a second subset of the plurality of contactassemblies may be configured to provide a data connection between thebattery assembly and the battery-powered device.

The PCB may include, for example, one or more processing elements andone or more memories. The PCB may further include one or morecommunication elements and one or more battery measurement, monitoring,and control elements. The PCB may include a battery control elementincluding an electronic circuit configured to provide information on abattery assembly state and/or operating condition and/or coupled devicestate and/or coupled device operating condition. The PCB memory maystore data associated with the battery and/or a coupled device or otherdevice. The PCB memory may store instructions/code for execution on thebattery and/or on a coupled device or other device. The PCB memory mayinclude code/instructions for execution on the processing element forreceiving and/or transferring code/instructions and/or data between thebattery and a coupled device. The PCB memory may includecode/instructions for execution on the processing element for monitoringand/or controlling battery operation and/or measuring battery operatingconditions and/or coupled device operating conditions. The PCB memorymay include code/instructions for execution on the processing elementfor verifying code/instruction updates. The battery assembly state maybe a battery element charge or discharge state. The battery assemblystate may be a number of charge/discharge cycles of the battery. Thebattery assembly state may be a current, voltage, and/or power state orcondition or range of conditions. The battery assembly state may be adate/time stamp. The battery assembly state may be a thermal orenvironmental condition, such as pressure, temperature, humidity,contacts/impacts, or other conditions.

The battery enclosure may include, for example, switch element. Theswitch element may be coupled to the battery control element.Information on a battery condition, such as charge or discharge state,number of cycles, and/or other information may be provided responsive toan actuation of the switch. The switch may be actuated manually by auser and/or automatically upon docking with another device such as atool, instrument, charger, or other device. The battery control elementmay include an electronic circuit configured to control an operatingfunction of the battery assembly. The operating function may be tocontrol delivered voltage, current, and/or power, enable or disablebattery output such as on an out of range condition or invalid orimproper coupled tool, instrument, or other device, monitor and measurebattery operating conditions, provide audible and/or visual indicationsof battery states, and or perform other operating functions.

The PCB may include, for example, a communication element configured tosend and/or receive data, information, and/or signals associated with abattery assembly state and/or operating condition. The communicationelement may be further configured to send and/or receivecode/instructions for execution on the battery and/or on coupleddevices. The data, information, and/or signals may be associated with abattery element charge condition. The battery enclosure may include aclock element. The clock element may be disposed on the PCB. The clockelement may be a real time clock device. The clock element may includeor be coupled to non-volatile memory for storing date/time information.The date/time information may be associated with other data orinformation such as battery state and/or coupled device operatingconditions or other data or information. The battery enclosure mayinclude one or more non-volatile memory elements for storing batterycondition or state information, time information provided from the realtime clock device, serial numbers or other device identificationinformation, and/or other data or information. The battery condition orstate information may include battery usage information, which may betime stamped. The battery condition or state information may includecharge and/or discharge cycle information which may be time stamped. Thebattery condition or state information may include battery loadinformation which may be time stamped. The battery condition or stateinformation may include battery charge and/or discharge voltage,current, and/or power information, which may be time stamped.

The battery enclosure may include a status indicator element configuredto provide a visual indication of a condition or state of the batteryassembly. The status indicator element may be disposed on the PCB and/oron other enclosure elements. The status indicator element may compriseone or more light emitting diodes (LEDs) or other optical outputelements. The LEDs may be red, green, white, blue, orange, and/or othercolor LEDs. The displayed condition or state of the battery assembly maybe a state of charge. A combination of red and green LEDs may be used toindicate charge state.

The vent assembly may be disposed, for example, on or within the lidelement. The vent assembly may be disposed on or within the thermallyconductive structural housing element and/or on or within other batteryenclosure elements. The vent assembly may include one or more holes. Theone or more holes may be covered or enclosed by a hydrophobicgas-permeable membrane. The hydrophobic gas-permeable membrane may be aflouropolymer material.

The outer casing may include, for example, a metallic material. Theouter casing may include a plastic material. The outer casing mayinclude a plurality of shell assemblies. The plurality of shellassemblies may include a capture shell assembly and a bottom case shellassembly connected to the capture shell assembly to enclose thethermally conductive structural housing element and the lid element. Theouter casing may include a sliding contact seal disposed to form a sealwith a receiver module. The outer casing may include a release latchelement for mechanically releasing of the battery enclosure from areceiver module. The release latch element may further function as aswitch element actuator. The switch element may be dome switch or otherswitching element. The switch element may be coupled to an electroniccircuit element. The electronic circuit element may be configured todetermine a battery condition responsive to switch actuation. Thebattery may be a charge or discharge state. The electronic circuitelement may be further configured to provide an indication of thebattery condition responsive to switch actuation. The indication ofbattery condition may be a visual indication, such as provided by an LEDor LCD device. The indication of battery condition may be an audibleindication, such as provided by a speaker, buzzer, piezolectric device,or other audible output generator. The battery may include one or morelight pipes configured to transmit light through the outer casingassembly, such as from an interior LED element. The battery enclosuremay include a face sealing element configured to provide a seal betweenthe one or more contacts and the outer casing assembly. The battery mayfurther include the battery assembly, wherein the battery assembly isdisposed within the interior volume. The battery assembly may includeone or more battery cells. The battery assembly may include a prismaticbattery cell or other battery cell. The prismatic battery cell may be alithium polymer battery cell.

The battery enclosure may further include a sealing element. The sealingelement may be positioned between the lid element and thermallyconductive structural housing element. The thermally conductivestructural housing element may be disposed, in part, within the outercasing assembly. The thermally conductive structural housing element maybe disposed entirely within the outer casing assembly.

The one or more LEDs may, for example, be controlled by a pulse-widthmodulation (PWM) circuit. The PWM circuit may control the LED output asa function of remaining battery charge. The status indicator may includea first LED of a first color and a second LED of a second colordifferent than the first color. The first LED may be a green LED and thesecond LED may be a red LED. The remaining battery charge may bedisplayed using a combination display of the red LED and the green LED.The LED output may be a varying frequency function of the remainingcharge.

The battery may, for example, include a memory and a processing elementconfigured to transfer code stored in the memory to a coupled device.The battery enclosure may include a memory and a processing elementconfigured to transfer data stored in the memory to a coupled device.

In another aspect, the disclosure relates to a battery system. Thebattery system may include, for example, a receiver assembly and asealed battery assembly configured to connect to the receiver assembly.The sealed battery assembly may include an outer casing assemblyincluding a sealing assembly configured to seal one or more contactsbetween the outer casing assembly and the receiver assembly, a thermallyconductive structural housing element configured to house a batteryassembly in an interior volume, the thermally conductive structuralhousing element including an opening for placement of the batteryassembly within the inner volume, a lid element configured to cover theopening in the thermally conductive structural housing element andmechanically strengthen the thermally conductive structural housingelement, the lid element including a circuit element disposed toelectrically couple the battery cell to a battery-powered device, and avent assembly configured to allow exchange of gases to and from theinterior volume and restrict entry of water into the interior volume.

In another aspect, the disclosure relates to an intelligent (Lucid)battery pack. The battery pack may include, for example, a batteryassembly, an electronic circuit element electrically coupled to thebattery assembly, the electronic circuit element configured to determinea battery state or condition, and a housing assembly configured toenclose the battery assembly and electronic circuit element. The housingassembly may include a release latch assembly configured to mechanicallyrelease the battery pack from a connected device and initiatedetermination of the battery state or condition.

In another aspect, the disclosure relates to a modular battery packapparatus. The modular battery pack apparatus may include, for example,a sealed battery enclosure configured for flame and/or rupturecontainment, moisture resistance, and/or thermal management. The sealedbattery enclosure may be configured with a battery element enclosedwithin a housing. The housing may be attached or coupled to a lidelement, which may be attached to or integral with a printed circuitboard (PCB). A battery element may include, for example, at least onebattery cell. The lid element may be configured with a vent element. Thevent element may comprise one or more vent holes configured to allowgaseous materials to exit the sealed enclosure. The vent holes may becoupled to a selectively permeable membrane. The selectively permeablemembrane may be a hydrophobic gas-permeable membrane. The PCB mayfurther be configured with a dome switch, a plurality of statusindicators, a male connecting element, and/or a plurality of conductiveelements coupled to a plurality of contact assemblies. The statusindicators may be light emitting diodes (LEDs) or other lightingelements.

Various additional aspects, details, features, and functions aredescribed below in conjunction with the appended Drawing figures.

Embodiments of the modular battery pack apparatus and systems describedherein may be used in conjunction with various electronic devices,including buried object locators such as those described in U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 13/041,320, filed Mar. 4, 2011, U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 13/161,183, filed Jun. 15, 2011, U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 10/268,641, filed Oct. 9, 2002, as well as otherdevices, such as camera devices and systems as described in U.S. PatentApplication Ser. No. 61/430,932, instruments, tools, such as intelligentpower tools such as saws, pressing machines, drills, poweredscrewdrivers, or other portable or modular tools, test equipment,computers or tablet devices, or other devices such as those described inpatents and patent applications of assignee SeekTech, Inc. The contentof each of the above-described applications is incorporated by referenceherein in its entirety.

The following exemplary embodiments are provided for the purpose ofillustrating examples of various aspects, details, and functions ofapparatus and systems; however, the described embodiments are notintended to be in any way limiting. It will be apparent to one ofordinary skill in the art that various aspects may be implemented inother embodiments within the spirit and scope of the present disclosure.

It is noted that as used herein, the term, “exemplary” means “serving asan example, instance, or illustration.” Any aspect, detail, function,implementation, and/or embodiment described herein as “exemplary” is notnecessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over otheraspects and/or embodiments.

Example Modular Battery Pack Embodiments

Referring to FIG. 1A, an embodiment of a sealed battery enclosure 100 inaccordance with certain aspects is illustrated. Sealed battery enclosure100 may serve as, for example, a battery safety enclosure apparatusand/or system for providing mitigation of adverse battery events, suchas excessive heat, fire or flames, rupture containment, or othersafety-related conditions. In particular, sealed battery enclosure 100may include a thermally conductive structural housing element, such as ahousing 110, along with a lid or cover element, such as a lid assembly120, which may be attached to or integral with a printed circuit board(PCB) element, such as PCB element 152, which may be used to enclose, ina sealed fashion, a battery assembly (not shown in FIG. 1A) from ingressor water or other liquids, while allowing selective venting of thebattery assembly and associated sealed volume. In an exemplaryembodiment, a vent assembly may be disposed in or on the lid assembly120, along with the PCB element 152, which may be integral with the lidassembly 120.

The thermally conductive structural housing element may be configured toprovide a mechanically strong enclosure for the battery assembly tomitigate pressure and explosions, while facilitating efficient heattransfer to avoid battery shutdowns due to overheating, fire, or otherheat-related problems. In an exemplary embodiment, a metal housingelement may be used; however, in some embodiments other strong andthermally conductive materials, such as flame retardant plastics,polymers, ceramics, textiles, fibers, composite materials, or otherequivalent materials, may also be used for the housing element.

In a typical embodiment, the thermally conductive structural housingassembly is configured to withstand explosions, fire, and release ofhazardous byproducts, through appropriate selection of materials,shapes, structural elements, and the like, as well as to provide thermalheat transfer to reduce or minimize overheating through use of thermallyconductive structural materials, such as metals, thermally conductiveplastics, or equivalent materials.

The lid assembly 120 may include electronic circuits to monitor batteryconditions, control battery operations, control battery charge anddischarge, couple battery power to attached portable devices, such aslocators, and/or provide related data or information, while alsoproviding sealing for a battery assembly disposed in the interior volumeof the thermally conductive structural housing element. Circuits andassociated connections may be disposed on or in a PCB element 152 whichmay be attached or integral with the lid assembly 120. The lid assembly120 may also be configured to include a vent element or assembly tofacilitate transfer of gases while restricting entry of water or otherliquids into the interior volume, as well as act as a pressure reliefmechanism to release pressure in the event of fire or explosion of thebattery assembly. For example, one or more vent holes 122 may be punchedthrough lid assembly 120 to release the pressure from inside the sealedbattery enclosure 100.

In addition, the lid assembly 120 may include electrical connectors orother elements to facilitate efficient transfer of electrical power fromthe battery to an associated electronic device during operation, as wellas to facilitate charging of the battery pack through use of a batterycharger, which may be an intelligent charger. In an exemplaryembodiment, the lid assembly may be a mechanically strengthened printedcircuit board (PCB) and/or may comprise a fire resistant PCB elementlayer, which may include the electronic circuits and/or electricalconnectors, along with a structural layer, which may be a metal layer orother structural layer. The PCB element 152 or layer may be disposed onthe exterior of the lid assembly 120, which may be denoted as acomponent side of the lid assembly 120, while the structural layer maybe disposed on the interior (e.g., side in proximity to or in contactwith the interior volume defined by the thermally conductive structuralhousing element).

The venting assembly or element may be disposed in the structuralhousing element and/or the lid assembly 120 and provide selectiveventing of the sealed enclosure 100 of a battery pack, which istypically the interior volume containing the battery assembly andassociated battery cells. For example, the venting assembly may beconfigured to allow gases to pass into or out of the interior volume ofthe sealed battery enclosure 100, while resisting entry of water orother liquids or materials into the interior volume. In addition, theventing assembly may allow for rapid venting or pressure relief of theinterior volume in the event of fire or explosion of the batteryassembly or other materials, such as gases, within the interior volume(e.g., by serving as a pressure release mechanism).

In addition, an outer casing element, such as shown in the embodiment ofFIG. 6 and described subsequently herein, may enclose the thermallyconductive structural housing element 110 and lid assembly 120 toprovide a second layer of insulation and protection, as well as tofacilitate mechanical and/or electrical coupling to a portableelectronic device to which the battery is attached, such as a portablelocator or other device. In an exemplary embodiment, the outer casingelement comprises a molded plastic material; however, in someembodiments, the outer casing element may include other materials, suchas metals, ceramics, composites, and the like.

Returning to the example embodiment of FIG. 1A, sealed battery enclosure100 may include, for example, a battery assembly including one or morebattery elements or cells (not shown), enclosed within an interiorvolume of a thermally conductive structural housing element, such ashousing 110 as shown, which may be a diecast metal housing in anexemplary embodiment. A lid assembly, such as lid assembly 120 as shown,which may include a PCB element 152, may cover and seal the interiorvolume and battery assembly.

Housing 110 may be formed, molded, or cast with a suitable alloy toprovide both sufficient thermal conductivity as a heat sink, andstructural rigidity for mitigating adverse advents. For example, housing110 may be formed as a single unit, from an aluminum alloy, such asA383, or from other metal alloys, such as copper alloys, etc. In someembodiments, housing 110 may be molded or otherwise fabricated fromthermally conductive plastics, composites, or other materials.

Housing 110 may include a plurality of screw bosses 112, which may beformed integrally with housing 110, such that lid assembly 120 may bemounted with a plurality of screws, such as screws 116 as shown.

A lid element, such as lid assembly 120, may be configured to providemechanical support to a battery assembly (not shown) when coupled tohousing 110. This may be done by, for example, including circuitelements on one side of the lid assembly 120, and mechanicalreinforcement elements, such as a metal layer or plate, on another side,or integral with the circuit elements. In an exemplary embodiment, thelid assembly 120 may be configured to include both an electronic circuitelement which may be disposed on a PCB element, such as PCB element 152,along with a mechanical reinforcement element to increase the strengthof the thermally conductive structural housing, and a venting element toallow transfer of gases and control discharge of pressure during a fire,explosion, or similar event.

For example, during a charge or discharge cycle, an increase intemperature exerted by the environment and/or generated by an exothermicreaction, may trigger decomposition and/or side-reactions, which maylead to the evolution of gases and/or production of undesiredintermediates. Accumulation of such gases and/or undesired intermediatesmay lead to adverse effects, such as fire and/or rupture/explosion.Thus, providing sealed battery enclosure 100 with ventilation mayprevent and/or reduce adverse effects caused by elevated internalpressure and temperature.

In an exemplary embodiment, the vent element may comprise one or morevent holes 122 (typically multiple holes 122) that may be punched ordrilled through an area on the lid assembly 120, such as in the top ofPCB element 152, to provide ventilation to the sealed battery enclosure100. To facilitate sealing, the vent holes 122 may be covered by amaterial that allows transfer of gases while restricting entry of waterand/or other liquids into the interior volume.

Other venting elements, such as pressure relief valves or other ventingmechanisms, may also be used to provide venting and pressure relief invarious embodiments. In addition, alternate venting assemblies andconfigurations may be used in some embodiments. For example, in someembodiments, a lid, such as lid assembly 120, may be configured to bendor otherwise transform in response to a predefined applied force. Forexample the lid assembly 120 may be configured such that when a forcegreater than a predetermined value, such as an expected minimum forcegenerated by an explosion, is applied, the lid assembly 120 flexes,bends, breaks or otherwise distorts so as to release pressure and avoida larger explosion upon complete structural failure of the lid assembly120 or structural housing. In this way, an explosive failure may becontrolled to reduce potential damage.

Lid assembly 120 may be configured for electrically interfacing abattery assembly and associated battery element(s) (not shown) withother electronic modules or components. For example, lid assembly 120may be configured to mechanically support and electrically connect oneor more electronic components using conductive pathways, tracks and/orsignal traces, which may be etched from a conductive metal, such ascopper, laminated onto a non-conductive substrate of the lid assembly120. A battery assembly may be electrically interfaced with a modulethat is capable of receiving power and/or providing power. In oneaspect, one or more battery contact elements 132 may be mounted to lidassembly 120 to electrically connect with a receiver module (not shown).Battery contact elements 132 may, for example, be soldered onto one ormore conductive pads 230 (not shown in FIG. 1A) disposed on PCB element152.

The circuitry of lid assembly 120 may include a PCB element 152, whichmay include a switching element, such as dome switch 124, which may beformed with a metal dome 126, such as, for example, a stainless steeldome, to provide a crisp, and positive tactile feedback mechanism uponcompression. The base of dome switch 124 may rest on the outer rim of aprimary circuit pathway 128, such that upon compression, the dome 126may collapse and make contact with the secondary pathway (not shown),thereby completing the circuit. Dome switch 124 may be electricallyconnected to analog and/or digital electronic circuit elements, such asa battery control element 142 (as shown in FIG. 1A), which may include amicroprocessor, microcontroller (μC), or other programmable logic devicethat may be used to monitor and/or control other circuitry of the sealedbattery enclosure 100, as well as operation of the battery pack, such asduring charge or discharge cycles. Battery control element 142 mayinclude on-board circuit elements, such as a microprocessor,microcontroller, DSP, FPGA, or other programmable device, along with amemory element (not shown), to perform various signal conditioning,monitoring, control, and/or processing functions as described herein.

Lid assembly 120 may additionally include a sealing element, such as aface sealing element 146, which may be disposed on an external surfaceof PCB element 152 to provide a waterproof compartment for one or moreelectrical elements when housed in an outer housing element (not shown).For example, face sealing element 146, which may be a layer of siliconefoam or other sealing material, may be sandwiched between the externalor outer surface of PCB element 152 and the inner structure of the outerhousing element (not shown) to provide a waterproof seal. This may beused to seal connections to external devices, such as chargers, locatorsor other instruments, or other devices to avoid shorts or other failuresdue to ingress of liquids, dust, etc. Other mechanisms for providing awaterproof compartment for one or more electrical elements may also beused in various embodiments.

Referring to FIG. 1B, details of an embodiment of a circuit 150 that maybe incorporated into a lid element, as illustrated in the schematic ofFIG. 1B, are shown. Such a circuit may be used as a part of anintelligent battery system (also denoted herein as a “Lucid” or “LucidBattery” system in accordance with an embodiment provided by Seektech,Inc., assignee of this application. Circuit 150 may include a batteryassembly 153, a battery circuit 160, such as a Lucid battery circuit160, and an interface circuit 198, such as a Lucid Battery interfacecircuit. Battery circuit 160 may be on or incorporated in lid assembly120, such as in the form of an integral PCB lid. Battery assembly 153,which may include one or more battery cells 154 and a protection circuitmodule (PCM) 156, may be electrically connected to the battery circuit160 with a first wire bundle 158, which may include one or more wires,such as, a power wire (+) and a ground wire (−), for carrying currentbetween the battery assembly 153 and battery circuit 160.

Battery circuit 160 may be electrically connected to an interfacecircuit 198, such as a Lucid Battery interface, with a connection 196,which may include one or more connections such as, for example, a powerconnection (+), a data connection (DATA), and a ground connection (−)for carrying current and information between battery circuit 160 andinterface circuit 198.

Battery circuit 160 may include functional elements for providingbattery pack and battery system management. Such elements may beembodied in hardware and/or software. A battery control element 142(such as shown in FIG. 1A) may include on-board electronic elements,such as a microprocessor, microcontroller, or other programmable device,along with one or more memory elements, to perform various signalcondition and/or processing functions as described herein. For example,a battery control element 142 (FIG. 1A) may include a ProgrammableInterface Controller (PIC®) 170, such as PIC16F690-I/ML, manufactured byMicrochip Technologies, or other microcontrollers, processors, DSPs, orother programmable devices, which may include on-board digital logic,such as a processing element, as well as a non-volatile memory element,such as an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM)172, flash memory, and/or other digital memory devices. These may becollectively referred to as a battery control element or module. Theprocessor element, such as the PIC® 170, may also include integratedfunctional blocks, such as analog-to-digital (A/D) converter 174, a realtime-clock (RTC) 176, and a General Purpose Input/Output (GPIO) element178, and/or other peripheral blocks.

Battery circuit 160 may include a dome switch 168, which may beelectrically connected to PIC® 170 to monitor and/or control othercircuitry of the sealed battery enclosure 100. Dome switch 168 maycorrespond to dome switch 124 as shown in FIG. 1A.

The GPIO element 178 may be configured to receive instructions from, andsupply data to, one or more control elements between battery circuit 160and interface circuit 198. Such data may be conveyed to the interfacecircuit 198 via a bus and data trans-mission protocol. GPIO element 178may monitor the status of a power supply, and communicate statusinformation by illuminating one or more status indicators, such as afirst LED 184, and a second LED 186, each of which may be a red LED, agreen LED, or a RGB LED. The PIC® 170 may measure voltage output beforeand after a test load 188 is enabled. For example, the voltage drop withthe test load 188 enabled may provide an indication corresponding to thestatus of the battery.

The processing element may be electrically connected to and/or includevarious front-end analog circuitry, such as an analog-to-digital (A/D)converter 174, a voltage sense 164, a temperature sensor 166, and/orother sensors or other devices for use in monitoring battery packconditions or operation. In one aspect of an exemplary embodiment, avoltage sensing circuit, such as analog-to-digital (A/D) converter 174may provide an output which varies with voltage and temperature. Forexample, a voltage sense 164 and a temperature sensor 166 may measurethe respective voltage and temperature across one or more battery cells154, and such temperature and voltage data may be conveyed to interfacecircuit 198.

The processing element may additionally include or be connected to acommunications interface for supporting a bus and data transmissionprotocol, which may be used to communicate with other control elements.For example, various parameters saved in EEPROM 172, such as state ofcharge (SOC), temperature data, voltage data, time data, and the likemay be polled by the interface circuit 198.

In one aspect of an exemplary embodiment, battery circuit 160 mayinclude one or more voltage regulators, such as LDO regulator 162 forstepping down the input voltage provided from battery assembly 153,and/or generating a constant output voltage across the battery circuit160.

In one aspect of an exemplary embodiment, one or more clock elements,such as a real-time clock (RTC) crystal 182, may be used to establish atime base, which may be useful for estimating battery self-discharge, orother battery conditions or states. For example, nonvolatile memoryelement, such as EEPROM 172 may store information, such as batterycondition, battery state, and/or real time clock 176 data. Based on oneor more battery parameter inputs stored in EEPROM 172, such as chargehistory, discharge history, temperature, battery age, initial capacity,current battery capacity, estimated life remaining, and the like, theprocessing element may provide an indication of battery conditions, suchas charge or discharge state, battery cycling information, remainingbattery life, and/or other similar or related information.

An external memory element 199 may be used such that executable codesmay reside on one or more Lucid devices. The memory may store code forother devices, for example, a battery may store code for an interfacedevice or tool, instrument, charger, etc. The memory element may alsostore data, such as one or more parameters, from various devices such asbatteries, tools, instruments, chargers, etc. Thus, data and otherinformation may be me shared across a plurality of Lucid devices. ThePIC® 170 may use GPIO 178 to read/write from and/or to the externalmemory element 199. The external memory element may be a non-volatilememory element, such as an EEPROM.

Battery circuit 160 may be configured to evaluate the total presentcapacity of the battery cells 154. For example, battery assembly 153 maysupply a test load 188 with electrical current, and may monitor variousparameters in order to determine the ampere-hours of energy delivered bythe battery while it is connected to the test load 188. In addition,battery circuit 160 may be configured to adjust a battery charge statebased on a particular condition. For example, if a battery has not had apredefined event (e.g., such as a charge/discharge cycle) within apredefined time interval (which may be based on a real-time clockelement, such as RTC 176 (as shown in FIG. 1B), the test load 188 may beused to discharge the battery from its correct state of charge to a moresuitable long term storage state of charge. For example, for lithiumbatteries, it may be desirable that the battery is stored at 40-60percent of full charge.

FIGS. 1B through 24 illustrate details of aspects of embodiments whichmay correspond with various functions and/or components of the sealedbattery enclosure 100 of FIG. 1A.

FIG. 2 illustrates additional details of a configuration and internalcomponents of the sealed battery enclosure embodiment 100 of FIG. 1A.Sealed battery enclosure 100 may be configured to mechanically house abattery assembly 200, as well as provide electrical connections to poweran attached portable device (not shown).

A battery assembly, such as battery assembly 200 as shown, may be housedwithin a sealed battery enclosure, such as within an interior volumedefined by a thermally conductive structural housing assembly such ashousing 110. The battery assembly may include one or more batteryelements 202, which may be capable of providing current and/or receivingcurrent, and may be, for example, a single and/or a multi-cell assemblyof suitable battery cells, such as Li-Ion Polymer cells (Li-Poly), whichmay be electrically connected in series or parallel with a protectioncircuit module (PCM) (not shown in FIG. 2), for controlling an abnormalstate of the battery, such as an overcharge or other abnormal state orcondition.

Battery element 202, which may include a PCM, as well as other elementsand/or modules for monitoring and/or controlling battery operation, maybe wrapped or disposed in a thermoplastic element 204, which may be madeof Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) or other plastic materials, to provide asingle rigid package. Battery assembly 200 may also include a pair oflead wires 206, such as UL 1007 20AWG wires, which may be welded orsoldered to the PCM to provide an electrical connection between batteryelement 202 and lid assembly 120 by mating a first connecting element208, such as MOLEX 43025-0200, with a second connecting element 224 asshown in FIG. 2.

Additional elements may be housed within or on the thermally conductivestructural housing element, such as housing element 110. For example,one or more battery seating elements, which may be made of a flexiblesealing material, such as silicon foam, may be disposed between the lidand battery element to aid in positioning and/or shock absorption of thebattery assembly. For example, in the embodiment shown, battery seatingelements 212 may be fitted between battery assembly 200 and lid assembly120 to reduce movement of and/or provide shock protection to batteryassembly 200.

A sealing element may be disposed between the thermally conductivestructural housing element 110 and PCB element 152. For example, sealingelement 214, which may be a layer of silicone foam or other flexiblesealing material, may be sandwiched between housing 110 and PCB element152, such that an inner rib 216 clamps down on the sealing element 214to provide a waterproof seal. Other mechanisms for sealing the interiorvolume and battery assembly may also be used in various embodiments. Inan exemplary embodiment, PCB element 152 configured with face sealingelement 146 and sealing element 214 may collectively be referred to aslid assembly 120.

To facilitate transfer of battery-related information, such as batterycondition information or operating status information, lighting elementsand associated holes or openings to allow transmission of light may beprovided in the structural housing element and/or lid element. Forexample, one or more apertures 218 may be integrally formed withinhousing 110 and/or lid assembly 120 such that light emitted from one ormore lighting elements (not shown in FIG. 2) may exit the sealed batteryenclosure 100.

Lid assembly 120 may be mounted to housing 110 with one or moreattachment elements, such as a plurality of screws 116. For example,screws 116 may be fed through a plurality of holes 222 of lid assembly120, and threaded into a plurality of screw bosses 112, to securelyfasten lid assembly 120 to the housing 110. Alternate elements and/ormechanisms may be employed to mount the PCB lid element 120 to thehousing 110.

One or more contact elements 132 may be disposed on one or moreconductive pads 230 mounted on the component side of the lid assembly120, such that battery element 202 of sealed battery enclosure 100 (suchas shown in FIGS. 1A and 2) may provide an electrical current to aportable device (not shown) in a discharge mode when mated with batterycontact elements 132 (such as shown in FIG. 1A). Battery element 202 mayalso receive current in a charge mode through battery contact elements132 (FIG. 1A) from a receiver module (not shown in FIG. 2) electricallyconnected to a power source. Conductive pads 230 may be made of copperor other conductive materials, and may serve as solder points forbattery contact elements 132.

Battery element 202 may be electrically coupled to lid assembly 120 bymating a first connecting element 208, such as MOLEX 43025-2P, with asecond connecting element 224. These connecting elements may be, forexample, surface mount connectors or other connectors.

FIG. 3 illustrates an enlarged detailed view of an embodiment of anupper, top, or component side of a PCB element 152 to illustrate detailsand/or additional elements in accordance with various aspects. In atypical embodiment, PCB element 152 includes a top or upper layerincluding electronic circuit devices, such as analog and/or digitalintegrated circuits, discrete components, such as resistors, capacitors,diodes, and the like. The upper layer is typically positioned on theside opposite to the interior volume and battery assembly (denotedherein as the top or upper side, which typically includes all or most ofthe electrical circuit components).

In addition, PCB element 152 may include a bottom or lower layer, whichmay be a metal or other structural material or configuration, and may bepositioned in contact with the interior volume and adjacent to thebattery assembly. In some embodiments, the lower layer may includecircuit elements such as connectors, such as second connecting element224, as well as circuit traces, LEDs, or other circuit components. Insome embodiments, the lower layer may be all or mostly solid metal orstructural material to strengthen the structural housing. For example,the lower layer of the lid element may include a small amount ofnon-structural area for circuit board traces, electrical connectors,small components, and/or ventilation or pressure relief assemblies, suchas shown in FIG. 4. Other structural elements or configurations (nowshown), such as ribs or other structural elements, may be added tostrengthen the lid element. In addition, it is noted that otherconfigurations of circuit elements disposed on the lid element, beyondthose specifically shown in the example embodiments of FIG. 3 and FIG.4, may also be used in various implementations.

Returning to FIG. 3, vias, such as plated through-hole vias 300, may beincluded to serve as an electrical conduit to carry electrical signalsand/or electrical power between layers of the PCB element 152, as wellas provide an electrical connection between conducting elements onopposite sides of PCB element 152. For example, conductive pads 230 asillustrated on the component side of PCB element 152 may electricallyconnect with a conducting element (not shown) on the opposite side ofPCB element 152. Vias may be fabricated by drilling one or more holesthrough one or more layers of PCB element 152, and made conductive byplating the inner surface of the drilled holes with a conductivematerial, such as copper. Suitable plating methods may include,electro-less plating, immersion plating, and/or electrolytic plating.Additional elements disposed on the component side of PCB element 152may include a battery control element 142, which may be electricallyconnected to a battery non-volatile memory element (not shown).

FIG. 4 illustrates an enlarged detailed view of an embodiment of abattery or trace side of a PCB element 152. This side is normallypositioned in contact with or adjacent to the interior volume andbattery assembly. Plated through-hole vias 300 may be used to carrysignals between conductive pads 230 on the component side of PCB element152 with one or more conductive traces 400 disposed on the oppositesurface of PCB element 152. Conductive traces may comprise of a physicalstrip of conductive metal, such as copper.

A vent membrane, such as hydrophobic gas-permeable membrane 410, whichmay be made from GORE-TEX® or other similar or equivalent materials, maybe mounted on the underside of lid assembly 120 to provide selectivepermeability across PCB element 152 through vent holes 122. Examples ofsuch materials are described in, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,953,566and 4,194,041, the contents of which are incorporated by referenceherein. In operation, the hydrophobic gas-permeable membrane 410 permitsgas exchange, such that gases evolved from an electrochemical reactionmay evacuate, but restricts water ingress, so that water and otheraqueous solutions cannot penetrate the sealed battery enclosure. Thus, awater-tight seal for the sealed inner volume and battery assembly may bemaintained even if the battery enclosure is exposed to water, whilegases may still transfer into or out of the interior volume.

One or more status indicators 420, such as, for example, lightingelements, may be disposed on PCB element 152 to provide a user with avisual indication of the condition or state of battery element 202. Forexample, status indicators 420 or lighting elements, such aslight-emitting diodes (LEDs), may illuminate based on the state ofcharge (SOC) of battery element 202 (FIG. 2). Status indicators 420 maybe, for example, RGB LEDs, red LEDs and/or green LEDs. Status indicators420 may be surface mounted to PCB element 152 and may be aligned withone or more apertures 218 (FIG. 2) when securing PCB element 152 tohousing 110 (FIGS. 1 and 2).

FIG. 5 illustrates a vertical section view of the embodiment 100 of FIG.1A, taken along line 5-5, to illustrate the configuration and additionaldetails of sealed battery enclosure 100. To minimize excess volume andmovement, housing 110 may be formed to accommodate specific dimensionsof battery assembly 200. As noted in FIG. 2, battery seating elements212, which may be made from silicone foam or other flexible materials,may be fitted between battery element 202 and lid assembly 120 toprovide cushion and reduce movement within sealed battery enclosure 100,and/or compensate for variation in battery thickness, and othercomponent or manufacturing tolerances. Sealing element 214 may besandwiched between housing 110 and the underside of lid assembly 120 tocreate a waterproof seal. Alternate elements and/or mechanisms may alsobe used to provide a waterproof seal. For example, an O-ring may befitted between the housing 110 and the underside of the lid assembly 120to provide a waterproof seal.

The vertical section view of contact elements 132 and contact preloadplates 134 illustrates one way in which a receiver module mayfunctionally connect with the battery contact elements 132. In additionto conducting an electrical current from the sealed battery enclosure toa circuit in the receiver module (not shown), the curved shape andflexibility of battery contact elements 132 may promote a wiping actionto prevent and/or break down oxide buildup on the surface of the batterycontact elements 132.

One or more fins or other cooling structures may be used to facilitatecooling of the battery pack. For example, one or more fins 500 may beintegrally formed and extend perpendicularly along one or more outersurfaces of the housing 110 to increase the rate of heat transfer. In anexemplary embodiment, a plurality of fins 500 may be disposed on one ormore surfaces of housing 110, with the fins formed integrally with thehousing in a diecasting process. Fins 500 may further be processed tofacilitate heat transfer, such as by coating, etching, blasting and/oranodizing to provide additional surface area.

FIG. 6 illustrates an isometric view of an embodiment of a battery packmodule 600. Battery pack module 600 may include a sealed assembly, suchas the sealed battery enclosure embodiment 100 as shown in FIG. 1A(sealed battery enclosure 100 is not shown in FIG. 6 but may be disposedinternal to the module 600). The battery pack may further include anouter casing assembly, which may include one or more components orassemblies, which may be one or more shells or similar structures suchas shown in FIG. 6. In a typical embodiment, the outer casing assemblymay be configured as an open or non-sealed structure (as opposed to thestructural housing element/lid element assembly which seals the interiorvolume and battery assembly from water ingress as described previously);however, some sealing, such as with respect to contacts, circuit boardtraces, and the like, may be used.

In an exemplary embodiment, the outer casing assembly may comprisecomplementary half shells, which may include upper-and-lower orside-by-side shell components or assemblies. For example, in oneembodiment the outer casing assembly may include a capture shell (topcase/half) 610 and a bottom case assembly (bottom half) 620 which may beconnected during assembly of the battery pack to enclose the thermallyconductive structural housing element and the lid element. The outercasing assembly may be used to provide further protection to users, suchas by limiting heat transfer from the thermally conductive structuralhousing element and/or lid element to a user holding or in contact withthe outer casing assembly. In addition, the outer casing assembly may beconfigured to provide additional thermal, explosive, and/or hazardousmaterial release protection by further enclosing the battery assemblyand interior volume in an additional protective layer.

Screws or other attachment hardware, such as thread formingtamper-resistant screws 616, which may be, for example, Plastite 48, maybe used to join top capture shell (top half) 610 to the bottom caseassembly (bottom half) 620. A plurality of cleats 612 may be overmoldedalong the top surface of the capture shell (top half) 610 to providevibration dampening, cushion against impact, improved grip, comfort inhandling, and/or other ergonomic considerations. Cleats 612 may bemechanically bonded and/or chemically bonded to the surface of captureshell (top case/half) 610, with an appropriate overmolding process, suchas insert molding, with an appropriate copolymer and/or one or morepolymers, such as a thermoplastic elastomer. Overmolded parts mayoptionally be glued on separately.

Bottom case assembly 620 may include a bottom case shell 622, slidingcontact seals 624 such that, when mated, the overmold may form awatertight seal between the battery pack module 600 and a receivermodule (not shown) which may shield against the entry of water, dirtand/or debris into the contact areas. In particular, it may be desirableto provide isolation between the contacts such as to prevent shorts,corrosion, and the like. Sliding contact seals 624 may be mechanicallybonded and/or chemically bonded to the top surface of bottom case shell622, with an appropriate overmolding process, such as insert molding,with an appropriate copolymer and/or one or more polymers, such as athermoplastic elastomer, or may be separately molded and captured withbottom case assembly 620.

Bottom case assembly 620 may also include a release latch mechanism,such as release latch element 630, which may participate in variousfunctions, such as mechanically releasing a battery pack module 600 froma shoe or receiver module (not shown) and/or actuating a switch element,such as dome switch 124 (FIG. 1A), disposed within battery pack module600. For example, the current provided by actuating a switching element,such as dome switch 124, may be sensed by a receiver module or othercircuit or module.

In some embodiments, actuation of the switch element may be sensed andused to provide an indication, such as via one or more LED elements, ofthe state of charge of the battery assembly and/or other battery statesor conditions, such as predicted remaining charge (fuel gage) orremaining time till discharge, number of battery cycles, and/or otherinformation. In an exemplary embodiment, in addition to connectionand/or release of a battery using the latch mechanism, a user may pushthe latch release element and be provided, via the LED elements, with anindication of the state of charge of the battery assembly (or similarlya predicted remaining battery time to discharge, etc.). The latchrelease element may be configured with multiple stops or positions, suchas a first stop to mechanically release a battery pack from a connectedelectronic device, as well as a second stop or position to actuate theswitch.

The battery state or condition may be indicated by a visual displayelement such as an LCD or LED assembly, and/or by an audible or otherindication. For example, an array of LEDs, LEDs of different colors orcombinations of colors, and/or other visual or audio signalingmechanisms may be used to provide indications of battery state. The LEDsmay be disposed on or in, for example, the lid assembly 120, such as onPCB element 152, or on or in other elements, such as the batteryassembly, structural housing element, or outer casing assembly.

A release latch-initiated testing function may be done by, for example,initiating a battery test cycle upon actuation of the latch release,such as prior to connection of the battery to the portable electronicdevice. For example, in some embodiments, the latch release mechanismmay include a first stop or position, at a lower pressure or deploymentlevel, for releasing the battery pack from a connected portable device,and a second stop or position, at a higher pressure or deployment level,for actuating the switch. In this way, a release latch mechanism mayprovide an integral attachment/disconnection function and battery testfunction, allowing a user to actuate the latch to a first stage wherethe battery may be attached or released, or to a second stage, wherebattery condition may be indicated, such as via the LEDs.

In another aspect, a battery condition or status function may beimplemented with a battery charger device (not shown) using the releaselatch mechanism and/or LEDs or other visual or audible indicationmechanism. For example, LEDs in the battery pack may be used to providecharge state information when connected to a charger device. This may beparticularly advantageous when the charger device lacks the capabilityof providing charge information and/or is located in a relativelyinaccessible location, such as under a dash or under or behind a seat ina vehicle. If the charger device is configured to actuate the releaselatch mechanism or otherwise interface with the battery pack, LEDs orother indications mechanisms onboard the battery pack may then be used,such as described previously herein, to provide battery chargeinformation and/or other battery state or condition information.

In another aspect, combinations of release latch mechanisms and switchelements may be used to provide addition functions, such as logging thenumber of connections of the battery pack to portable electronicdevices, logging charge cycles or other cycles associated withconnection of the battery pack to various devices, providing anindication of pending release of the battery pack to connected portabledevices (such as, for example, signaling the connected portable devicethat a battery pack disconnection is about to occur so that theelectronic device can stop or limit operation in a controllable fashion)and/or providing other similar functions.

In some embodiments, a battery pack, such as battery pack module 600 ofFIG. 6, may implement security and anti-theft mechanisms, such as bycontrolling or disabling battery output as described subsequently hereinbased on device serial numbers or other identification information. Inone aspect, a battery pack 600 may be disabled or unusable when usedwith unrecognized devices, such as by disabling the battery output whenconnected to an improper device. For example, if a user mates thebattery pack with an unrecognized or unauthorized device, the batterypack 600 may be disabled.

FIG. 7 illustrates an exploded isometric view of an embodiment ofbattery pack module 600. Inside the cavity of battery pack module 600,one or more light pipes 700 may be aligned with apertures 218 (as shownin FIG. 2) and status indicators 420 (as shown in FIG. 4), such aslighting elements, of sealed battery enclosure 100, for providingtransport and/or distribution of light to the outside of battery packmodule 600. Sealed battery enclosure 100 and light pipes 700 may behoused between capture shell (top case/half) 610 and bottom caseassembly (bottom half) 620, by threading the plurality of thread formingtamper-resistant screws 616, such as Plastite 48, through bottom casescrew holes 706, and into capture shell screw bosses 716 to form anexternal housing.

FIG. 8A illustrates an exploded isometric view of details of anembodiment of the bottom case assembly 620 of FIGS. 6 and 7. Bottom caseassembly 620 may include, for example, a release latch element 630 forproviding a spring-loaded mechanism for releasing a battery pack module600 (such as shown in FIG. 6) with a receiver module (not shown) and/oractuating dome switch 124 (such as shown in FIGS. 1A, 2, and 3) disposedwithin battery pack module 600.

Release latch element 630 may be configured with a bottom case 622 withone or more compression springs 800 seated within a carrier 810. In anexemplary embodiment, carrier 810 may be secured onto bottom case shell622 with screws 816, which thread into bottom case release latch screwbosses (not shown) in the inside of 622.

FIG. 8B illustrates an exploded isometric view of details of analternate embodiment bottom case assembly 800B. Bottom case assembly800B may include, for example, a release latch element 830 for providinga spring-loaded mechanism for releasing a battery pack module 600 (suchas shown in FIG. 6) from a receiver module (not shown) and/or actuatingdome switch 124 (such as shown in FIGS. 1A, 2, and 3) disposed withinbattery pack module 600 (FIG. 6).

Release latch element 830 may be configured with a bottom case 822 withone or more compression springs 832. In one aspect, a pair of contactassemblies 834 may be configured with bottom case 822. A molding, suchas rubber molding 836 may be disposed on bottom case 822 to provide aweather resistant seal when a battery pack module is mated with areceiver module (not shown in FIG. 8B) or a charging module (not shownin FIG. 8B). A rubber over-molding may optionally be used in place ofmolding 836.

FIG. 9 illustrates a contact side view of details of an embodiment ofthe battery pack module 600 as shown in FIG. 6. Various additionalaspects and details may be seen through vertical section views asillustrated in FIGS. 10 through 13.

Turning to FIG. 10, internal components of an embodiment of battery packmodule 600 is illustrated in a vertical section view, taken through line10-10 of FIG. 9, which traverses the midsection of battery pack module600. For example, capture shell 610 and bottom case assembly 620 may bedimensioned and conjoined to provide a fitted outer housing aroundsealed battery enclosure 100 as shown.

One or more light pipe retainers 1000 may be used to secure light pipes700, such that lighting elements or status indicators 420 (such as shownin FIG. 4) may transmit light through apertures 218 (such as shown inFIG. 2) to status indicator windows (not shown) on the outer surface ofbattery pack module 600 to indicate battery state or conditioninformation.

Upon depressing release latch element 630, a dome switch trigger 1010may be used to depress metal dome 126, which may then initiate a seriesof commands or other signals. Additional details of an embodiment of arelease latch switch mechanism are illustrated in further detail in FIG.12

FIG. 11 illustrates details of a mechanism for sealing off conductors onPCB element 152 (FIGS. 1A, 2-5, and 10), such as shown in FIG. 6 andFIG. 9, to prevent ingress of dust, dirt, water or other liquids orcontaminants to the contacts and/or associated circuit board traces orother conductors. For example, when capture shell (top half) 610 isjoined to the bottom case assembly (bottom half) 620, an internal ridgeelement 1110 of bottom case 622 may be compressed into face sealingelement 146 (as shown in FIGS. 1A and 2) on lid assembly 120 to provideseparate watertight sealed compartments for electrical components, suchas battery contact elements 132.

FIG. 12 illustrates details of a latch switch mechanism of theembodiment of FIG. 10. Release latch element 630 (such as shown in FIGS.6-10) may be configured to provide a mechanism for releasing batterypack 610 from a receiver module, as well as providing a mechanism foractuating a switching element, such as dome switch 124 (such as shown inFIGS. 1A, and 2-3) inside battery pack module 600. For example, whenlatch 630 (such as shown in FIGS. 6-10) is depressed, a dome switchtrigger 1010 may activate dome switch 124 by depressing metal dome 126as described previously. As described in FIGS. 1A and 3, the base of themetal dome 126 may rest on the outer rim of a primary circuit pathway128 (such as shown in FIG. 1A and FIG. 3), such that, upon collapse, themetal dome 126 makes contact with the secondary pathway (not shown),thereby completing the circuit. Completion of the circuit may thentrigger a progression of measurement readings and/or dialog, initiatedby a receiver module. For example, the current provided by actuatingdome switch 124 may be sensed by a receiver module (not shown).

Turning to FIG. 13, details of the battery pack module embodiment 600 ofFIG. 9 are illustrated in a cross-section view, taken through line13-13, which traverses the outer housing of battery pack module 600,such as capture shell 610 and bottom case assembly 620, as well ascontact preload plates 134 and contact element 132.

FIG. 14 illustrates details of an embodiment of a battery pack system1400. Battery pack system 1400 may interface electrically to a portabledevice and/or power source, such as a charger. Battery pack system 1400may include a battery pack module 600, which may be electrically, anddetachably, coupled to a receiver module 1410 to discharge and/or chargebattery element 202 (such as shown in FIG. 2). Receiver module 1410 mayserve as a charging interface and/or device interface for battery module600. For example, receiver module 1410 may be electrically connected,and optionally mounted, to a portable device, such that battery packmodule 600 may provide such a portable device with power when coupled.

Receiver module 1410 may electrically connect to a power source (notshown), such as an AC power source and/or a DC power source. Receivermodule 1410 may electrically connect to a converter module (not shown),such as an AC-to-DC converter module, to provide receiver module 1410with a continuous delivery of a regulated DC output voltage.

One or more status indicator windows 1422 may be disposed on the surfaceof battery pack module 600 to convey visually to a user one or moreconditions of the battery element 202. The information provided throughstatus indicator windows 1422 may be derived from status indicators 420(FIG. 4) surface mounted on PCB element 152 of lid assembly 120, whichmay be disposed inside battery pack module 600. Status indicator windows1422 may convey conditions which may include, for example, thepercentage of charge remaining on the battery, the amount of time (mAh)the battery element 202 may supply power to a particular device (basedon power consumption rate), the time remaining before the battery may befully charged, number of battery cycles, as well as other conditions orbattery information which may be useful to a user. Status indicators 420may include one- or two-color light emitting diodes (LEDs), such as suchas RGB LEDs, red LEDs and/or green LEDs, or other display elements.

FIG. 15 illustrates additional details of battery pack system embodiment1400 of FIG. 14. Receiver module 1410 may include an interface module1500, which may be seated in a cradle 1510, and may be optionallymounted to a portable device, such as a portable magnetic locator suchas described in buried object locator patent applications owned bySeektech, Inc., assignee of the instant application, including, forexample, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/041,320, filed Mar. 4,2011, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/161,183, filed Jun. 15, 2011,and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/268,641, filed Oct. 9, 2002, thecontent of which are incorporated by reference herein, and/or on anotherdevice or surface, such as a wall or service vehicle, with receivermounting holes 1512.

Battery pack module 600 may be mechanically coupled to receiver module1410 through sliding contact seals 624 (FIG. 6) on the underside ofbattery pack module 600, as shown in FIGS. 6-10 and 13, to provide awaterproof seal between battery pack module 600 and receiver module1410. When mechanically mated, one or more receiver contact elements1516 may electrically connect with battery contact elements 132, such asshown in FIGS. 1, 5, and 13.

FIG. 16 illustrates details of an embodiment of a receiver module 1410of FIGS. 14 through 15. An interface circuit, such as PCB interface1600, may be secured to the underside of receiver contact plate 1602 bydirecting one or more receiver contact elements 1516 through receivercontact plate 1602. Receiver contact elements 1516 may be bent andsoldered to one or more receiver conductive pads 1610. A wire managementelement, such as rubber grommet 1620, may be disposed in the cavity ofthe receiver contact plate 1602 to protect and secure a plurality ofwires (not shown) threaded through PCB interface 1600.

An sealing element 1630, which may be, for example, a layer of adhesivebacked silicone foam, or other attachment mechanism, may be disposedbetween the bottom of contact plate 1602 and the inside of cradle 1510.Other elements and/or mechanisms for securing contact plate 1602 tocradle 1510 may also be used in various embodiments.

FIG. 17A illustrates details of the underside of the interface module1500 embodiment of FIG. 15. A PCB interface 1600 may be mounted to theunderside of receiver contact plate 1602 (FIG. 16) of interface module1500 (FIG. 15). PCB interface 1600 may be electrically connected to abattery circuit 160 (such as shown in FIG. 1B) to provide power to adevice, such as a Lucid Bridge or Lucid Device 1748 (such as shown inFIG. 17B) through wire bundle 1710, which may include one or more wiresfor carrying current and/or data between various modules of a LucidSystem.

A “Lucid Bridge” may be referred to herein as a device, apparatus and/orsystem which may include one or more inputs for one or more powersources. The Lucid Bridge may be responsible for managing one or morepower sources, and may direct power to a user device 2492, such as shownin FIG. 24, from the power source with the highest priority, which maydepend on the sources connected. The Lucid Bridge may, for example, beused to manage input power from a plurality of Lucid battery devicesand/or an AC power adapter or other power supply device or element. TheLucid Bridge may also include a battery charging circuit. The LucidBridge may use one or more external batteries to charge an internalbattery, which may optionally be a lower voltage battery. In addition,an AC adapter or other power supply element may charge external Lucidbatteries and/or the internal battery or battery cells.

A “Lucid Bridge” can also support data collection and storage. “Lucid”enabled devices refer to intelligent devices and configurations ofenabled devices to provide intra and inter-device connections tofacilitate acquisition, collection, storage, and transfer of data and/orcode between the devices.

PCB interface 1600 may include functional elements, which may beembodied in hardware, software, or combinations of both, such as controlelements, processing elements, memory elements, logic gates,transistors, diodes, capacitors, and the like, interconnected to respondto input electrical signals and produce other electrical signalsaccording to the desired electronic function. For example, a controlelement 1712 may include on-board elements, such as a processor or otherprogrammable device, and a memory element to perform various signalcondition and/or processing functions as described herein. For example,control element 1712 may include a Programmable Interface Controller(PICO), such as PIC16F690-I/ML, manufactured by Microchip Technologies,or other microcontrollers, processors, DSPs, or other programmabledevices, which may include on-board digital logic, such as a processingelement, and a non-volatile memory element 1714, such as an electricallyerasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), flash memory, or otherdigital memory device.

Control element 1712 may also include a communications interface, forsupporting a bus and data transmission protocol, such as I2C, which maybe used to communicate with other control elements. Other communicationsinterfaces may alternately be used.

PCB interface 1600 may include elements such as a low-dropout (LDO)regulator 1716, such as a 3.3V LDO to provide reduced operating voltage,increased operation efficiency, and reduced heat dissipation.

An encapsulating material (not shown), such as injected epoxy, may beused to provide a seal for PCB interface 1600 and the inside compartmentof receiver contact plate 1602.

Referring to FIG. 17B, an embodiment of a PCB interface schematic 1740in a Lucid system is illustrated in accordance with certain aspects. PCBinterface schematic 1740 may include a battery module, such as a Lucidbattery module 1742, an interface circuit 1750, and a Lucid device 1748.Interface circuit 1750 may correspond with PCB interface 1600 (such asshown FIGS. 16 and 17A). Interface circuit 1750 may be electricallyconnected to Lucid battery module 1742 and Lucid device 1748. Forexample, Lucid battery module 1742 may be electrically connected to theinterface circuit 1750 with a first battery and interface contacts 1744,which may include one or more connections, such as, a power connection(+) and a ground connection (−) for carrying current, and a dataconnection for carrying information between Lucid battery module 1742and interface circuit 1750.

Interface circuit 1750 may be electrically connected to a Lucid device1748 with a second wire bundle 1746, which may include one or more wiressuch as, for example, a power wire (+) and a ground wire (−) forcarrying current; a charge (CHG) wire for providing a battery modulewith charge; a power interrupt (INT) line, which may optionally be usedfor functions such as controlling current flow from battery contactelements to powered devices and/or for other power or control functions.For example, the power INT line may be used to prevent electricaloperation of a device in response to battery incompatibility,overvoltage, under-voltage, or other power or compatibility constraintsor parameters. In some implementations, a battery may send an interruptsignal to an attached device to signal the device that power is about tobe lost (e.g., power is at a low level, such as 5 percent or at anotherpredefined threshold). By receiving such a signal, the device may thensave any important files and/or perform other power loss functions inadvance of power termination. A lower battery indication or warning suchas this may also be indicated by a buzzer, lighting elements (e.g.,flashing LEDs or other visual indications), or other indications.

A second wire bundle 1746 may additionally include a bidirectional bus,such as an I2C bus, which includes a serial clock (SCL) line fortransmitting a clock signal and a serial data (SDA) line fortransmitting a data signal.

Interface circuit 1750 may include functional elements for providingbattery pack management for a Lucid system. Such elements may beembodied in hardware and/or software. A control element 1712 (FIG. 17A)may include on-board elements, such as a processor or other programmabledevice and a memory element to perform various signal condition and/orprocessing functions as described herein. For example, control element1712 (FIG. 17A) may be a Programmable Interface Controller (PIC®) 1760,such as PIC16F690-I/ML, manufactured by Microchip Technologies, or othermicrocontrollers, processors, DSPs, or other programmable devices, whichmay include on-board digital logic, such as a processing element, and anon-volatile memory element, such as an electrically erasableprogrammable read-only memory (EEPROM) 1766, flash memory, or otherdigital memory device. PICO 1760 may also include functional blocks,such as analog-to-digital (A/D) converter 1762, a General PurposeInput/Output (GPIO) 1764, and a bidirectional bus, such as an I2C bus1768, transmitting a clock signal and data.

Battery control element, such as PICO 1760, may include a GPIO element1764 may receive instructions from, and supply data to, one or morecontrol elements between Lucid battery module 1742, interface circuit1750, and a Lucid device 1748. Such data may be provided to the Luciddevice 1748 via a bus and data transmission protocol. GPIO element 1764may be configured to monitor the status of a Lucid battery 1742 anddrive external devices, such as communicate status information byilluminating one or more status indicators, which may be a first LED184, such as a red LED, and a second LED 186, such as a green LED, whichmay alternately be other colors or color combinations, such as RGB, etc.GPIO element 1764 may also be configured to provide an interrupt output.

The PIC® 1760 may be electrically connected to and/or include variousanalog circuitry, such as an analog-to-digital (A/D) converter 1762,which may provide an output based on measurements provided by a voltagesense 1754 for measuring the voltage across one or more battery cells(not shown) of Lucid battery module 1742, and/or other sensors or otherdevices for use in monitoring battery pack conditions or operation. Acurrent sense 1772 may optionally be used for measuring the currentprovided to a Lucid bridge or Lucid device 1748. Optional current sense1772 may also provide an estimate of gas gauge for non-Lucid batteriesor other non-intelligent or non-compatible devices.

In one aspect of an exemplary embodiment, interface circuit 1750 mayinclude one or more fuses 1752, such as a slow blow fuse, which mayinterrupt excessive current. One or more voltage regulators, such as anLDO regulator 1756 for stepping down the input voltage provided by Lucidmodule battery 1742.

In one aspect of an exemplary embodiment, interface circuit 1750 mayinclude a power switch (perfect diode) 1758, which minimizes the voltagedrop when forward biased, and prevents reverse power flow into abattery. Interface circuit 1750 may include one or more analogcomparator circuits, such as an under voltage lockout 1755 and an overcurrent cutoff 1757. For example, if the voltage is too low, undervoltage lockout 1755 may disable switch 1758. Likewise, if current istoo high, over current cutoff 1757 shuts down or disables power viaswitch 1758.

An external memory element 1799 may be used such that executable codes(and/or data) may reside on one or more Lucid devices. Thus, data andother information may be shared across multiple Lucid devices. The PIC®1760 may use GPIO 1764 to read/write from and/or to the external memoryelement 1799. The external memory element may be a non-volatile memoryelement, such as an EEPROM.

FIG. 18 illustrates a vertical cross-section of the battery pack systemembodiment 1400 as shown in FIG. 14, taken along line 18-18,illustrating various element configurations and an example mating ofbattery pack module 600 to receiver module 1410.

FIG. 19 illustrates an isometric view of an alternative embodiment of abattery pack system 1900 with an embodiment of an attachment or handlestructure including elements 1910, 1912, and 1914. For example, areceiver module, such as the alternative embodiment receiver module 1700illustrated in FIG. 17A, may be housed in an attachment or handlestructure, such as handle 1910 formed by conjoining a right half housing1912 and a left half housing 1914. Other configurations for housing ormounting a receiver module may also be used in various embodiments.

FIG. 20 is an exploded view illustrating additional details of thealternative embodiment of FIG. 19.

FIG. 21 is a block diagram illustrating details of an embodiment of abattery system 2100. In one aspect of an exemplary embodiment, a batterymodule 2110 may provide power to a battery-powered device 2150 across aninterface module 2130 as shown. Battery module 2110 may include, forexample, a battery assembly 2120 and a battery circuit 2116. Batteryassembly 2120, which may include one or more battery cells 2112 and aPCM circuit 2114, may electrically connect to a battery circuit 2116.

Battery module 2110 may be electrically connected to an interface module2130 with a first connection, such as first battery contacts/connections2122, which may include a power connection, a ground connection, and adata connection to carry current and information between the batterymodule 2110 and interface module 2130. The interface module 2130, whichmay include an interface circuit 2132, may be electrically connected toa battery-powered device 2150 with a second connection, such as secondwire bundle 2142, which may include a power wire and a ground wire tocarry current, as well as a bidirectional bus, such as an I2C bus, whichincludes a serial clock (SCL) line for transmitting a clock signal and aserial data (SDA) line for transmitting a data signal. Second wirebundle 2142 may additionally include a power interrupt (INT) wire forsignaling, and a charge (CHG) wire for providing a battery module withcharge. A PCM circuit 2114 may be included and may be bundled withbattery cells to protect cells against events such as overcharging,over-discharging, short circuits or other problem conditions. PCMcircuit 2114 may also be configured to perform battery chargemanagement, in whole or in part.

A battery circuit 2116 may be included to provide functions such asdisplaying state of charge to a user (such as via LEDs as describedpreviously herein, such as RGB LEDs, red LEDs and/or green LEDs). Inaddition, battery circuit 2116 may provide functionality such asinterfacing the battery pack to a receiver or shoe element, providingcharge state displays and/or information, and/or may provide voltage orother battery or battery pack parameters or other information to thereceiver or shoe. Other components, such as switching elements, receiverand/or transmitter circuits, clocks, other sensors (e.g., temperature,pressure, etc.), processors, memory, or other circuit components mayalso be included.

An interface circuit 2132 may be included to provide functions such asmeasuring current provided to an attached electronic device from thebattery pack, provide OR-ing diode functions or power source selectionso multiple interface devices may be used on one device. In addition, itmay be used to provide an electrical interface between a receiver/shoeand the battery powered device, as well as providing information such asbattery state of charge, voltage, current, and/or other batteryparameters to the battery powered device. First connection, such asfirst wire bundle 2122 illustrates DC Power, and second connection, suchas second wire bundle 2142 illustrates a data connection, such as a1-wire or other data connection.

FIG. 22 illustrates details of an embodiment of a process 2200 forbattery pack management in a system using various intelligent (alsodenoted as “Lucid” based on an embodiment developed by the assignee ofthe instant application) and non-intelligent modules. In one aspect,process 2200 provides processing from the perspective of an interfacecircuit, such as, for example, interface PCB 1600 (such as shown inFIGS. 16 and 17) or interface circuit 2132 (such as shown in FIG. 21),which may be included in a shoe module, such as receiver module 1410(such as shown in FIGS. 14-16), alternate embodiment receiver module1700 (such as shown in FIGS. 17-18, and 20), interface module 2130 (suchas shown in FIG. 21), and the like.

In one aspect, process 2200 may be used to provide one or moreprocessing stages to determine if a module supplying power isLucid-capable, and if the Lucid-capable module is a battery or anon-battery module. For example, an interface circuit may detect a powersource at stage 2210, such as an AC or DC power supply, or a battery.Once power is detected, a determination may be made at stage 2220 as towhether a module is Lucid-capable or not. This may be based on analyzingparameters of the detected power source and/or data or informationprovided from the attached source.

If the source is determined to be non-Lucid capable at stage 2220,processing may continue to a processing sequence 2250. For example, thereceiver module or interface circuit may measure a voltage at stage 2253and a current at stage 2254, and a corresponding visual or audibledisplay element may be updated at stage 2255 accordingly to provideindications of voltage and/or current measurements. In some embodiments,the process may repeat voltage measurement stage 2253 and currentmeasurement stage 2254, and update display stage 2255 periodically, suchas, for example, every 10 seconds.

If the source is determined to be Lucid-capable at stage 2220,processing may proceed to a stage 2222, where a determination may bemade as to whether the receiver code is more recent. If the receivercode is determined to be more recent, the Lucid power source may receivean update at a stage 2224, and proceed to the stage 2226 where adetermination may be made as to whether the Lucid power sourcecode/instructions are more recent or should otherwise be updated.

If the receiver code is not determined to be more recent, processing mayproceed to a stage 2226, where a determination may be made as to whetherthe Lucid power source is more recent. If at stage 2226 the Lucid powersource code is determined to be more recent, an update may be sent tothe receiver at a stage 2228, and may proceed to a stage 2230, where adetermination may be made as to whether the Lucid-capable source is abattery or non-battery device. This may be done by, for example,receiving data or information from the device associated with thedevice's type and/or condition. If at stage 2226 a determination hasbeen made that Lucid power source code is not more recent, transferand/or updating may be omitted, and processing may continue to stage2230.

If the device is determined to be a battery at stage 2230, a processingsequence 2240 may then be executed. This may include stages of polling2241 for one or more parameters, such as original capacity, number ofcharge cycles, last state of charge and/or other data or information;measuring a voltage at stage 2242; measuring a current at stage 2243;updating parameters at stage 2245, such as remaining capacity,temperature inside the battery pack module, and the like; applying aderating algorithm at stage 2247 to reflect aging, and updating adisplay 2248. In some embodiments, processing stages 2241, 2242, 2243,2245, 2247, and 2248 may be repeated periodically, such as at a periodicinterval such as 10 seconds.

If the source is determined to be a non-battery at stage 2230,processing may proceed to a processing sequence 2260 for a non-battery,which may include a stage 2261 for polling parameters, a stage 2263 formeasuring voltage, a stage 2264 for measuring current, a stage 2265 forupdating a display, and a stage 2266 for updating parameters. Processingstages 2261, 2263, 2264, 2265, and 2266 may be repeated periodically,such as at a periodic interval such as 10 seconds.

FIG. 23 illustrates details of an embodiment of a process 2300 fordetermining a state of charge (SOC) for a battery. A derating algorithmprocess 2340 may be configured to determine a derating factor for anintelligent or Lucid battery, which may be an intelligent or Lucidbattery embodiment as described previously herein. One or more batteryparameter inputs 2320, such as charge history data 2322, dischargehistory data 2324, temperature history 2326, battery age (temporaland/or use-based) 2328, initial capacity 2330, loading historyconditions 2332, and/or other data or information 2334 may be providedto a derating module where a derating algorithm process stage 2340 maybe applied to determine a derating factor. Once a derating factor isdetermined at stage 2340, current charge state information 2345 may beprovided to an energy determination module where an energy determinationprocess stage 2350 may be applied to determine, based on a function ofthe current charge state and the derating factor, an available energymetric. The available energy metric may then be displayed and/or outputat a stage 2360, such as in the form of a “gas gauge” display or otherdisplay of available energy in the battery pack. Other information, suchas the received parameters inputs or other functions of the receivedinputs may also be displayed in some embodiments.

Referring to FIG. 24, details of an embodiment of a Lucid system 2400are illustrated in accordance with certain aspects. In one aspect, oneor more power supplies may provide power, data, and other information,to a user device 2492 across a Lucid bridge circuit 2410. One or morepower supplies may include a backup battery 2402 and/or a 19V powersupply charger 2404. One or more power supplies may also include one ormore Lucid battery modules (not shown), which may be electricallyinterfaced with one or more interface circuits, such as Lucid interfacecircuits 2406 and 2408.

Fuse/input filtering blocks 2414, 2444, 2464, and 2474 may be used tofuse and filter current provided by one or more power supplies, such asbackup battery 2402, 19V power supply charger 2404, and/or one or moreLucid battery modules (not shown), which may provide overcurrentprotection, charge management, noise reduction, and the like.

In one aspect of an exemplary embodiment, the 19V power supply charger2404 may provide power to the Lucid bridge circuit 2410 via a barrelconnector 2442. Perfect diode 2448, which minimizes the voltage dropwhen forward biased, may be used to prevent reverse power flow into abattery. The 19V power supply charger 2404 may provide charge to one ormore Lucid batteries (not shown) through an optional boost converter2452 and charger 2454. A control element, such as a PIC bridgecontroller 2430, may be used to monitor the charge current from charger2454, and update the state of charge of one or more Lucid batteries (notshown). For example, if the 19V power supply charger 2404 may providepower to the user device 2492, the A/D 2434 may read the currentsupplied from a current sense 2446, and use such value to determinewhether the 19V power supply charger 2404 is able to charge the backupbattery and/or Lucid batteries (not shown).

For example, backup battery 2402 may provide power to the Lucid bridgecircuit 2410 via a backup battery connector 2412. The 19V power supplycharger 2404 and/or one or more Lucid batteries (not shown) may be usedto charge the backup battery 2402 by implementing a backup batterycharge management mechanism 2416. Backup battery charge managementmechanism 2416 may also include a current measurement, which may be readby an A/D 2434, such that PIC bridge controller 2430, may keep track ofthe state of charge (SOC) of the backup battery 2402.

In an exemplary embodiment, PIC bridge controller 2430 may use a currentsense 2422 to monitor the SOC of the backup battery 2402 while supplyingpower to user device 2492. A voltage sense 2418, which may provideinformation to A/D 2434, may be used to allow the PIC bridge controller2430 to monitor the voltage of the backup battery. Anundervoltage-lockout (UVLO) circuit may be used to protect the backupbattery 2402, and monitor charge. For example, the UVLO circuit may turnoff the circuit if the battery voltage drops below a specific threshold.

The PIC bridge controller 2430 may store data, such as the SOC of backupbattery 2402, the number of charge and/or discharge cycles, the serialnumbers of Lucid batteries which may be attached, and the like, on anon-volatile memory element, which may be an internal EEPROM 2432 orother memory device.

A GPIO 2436 may be used to control the backup battery charger, such asenabling and/or disabling. A perfect diode 2424 may be used to preventreverse power flow into a battery when current is supplied to the userdevice 2492.

One or more Lucid battery modules (not shown), may provide power to theuser device 2492 via a plurality of Lucid connectors 2426, 2462, and2472, which may be electrically interfaced with one or more interfacecircuits, such as Lucid interface circuits 2406 and 2408, throughperfect diode 1758 (such as shown in FIG. 17B), to prevent reverse powerflow.

In one aspect of an exemplary embodiment, the PIC bridge controller 2430may communicate via I2C with one or more control elements, such as PIC1760 (FIG. 17B), which may be implemented on one or more Lucid interfacecircuits 2406 and 2408, from an I2C bus 2438. This communication mayinclude receiving and/or updating parameters of a Lucid battery (notshown). The User Device 2492, which may include a control element, suchas a microcontroller, may communicate via I2C to the PIC bridgecontroller 2430 to receive data. Such data may include, for example,power supplies connected, power supply selected, and/or SOC of one ormore batteries, such as backup battery 2402 and one or more Lucidbatteries (not shown), which may be electrically interfaced with Lucidinterface circuits 2406 and 2408.

Referring to FIG. 25, details of an embodiment of a battery chargingmodule 2500 are illustrated in accordance with certain aspects. In oneaspect, battery charging module may include a housing, which may beformed by mating an upper housing 2520 and a lower housing 2530. A powersupply (not shown), such as a 21V power supply 2708 may be enclosedwithin the housing. A plug insert 2504 may be formed by housing halves2520 and 2530. Battery charging module may further include a chargerreceiver module 2510 mounted to the surface of the upper housing 2520.

Referring to FIG. 26, details of an embodiment of a battery chargingmodule 2500 are illustrated from the bottom side thereof. For example,battery charging module may be optionally mounted to the wall with abrow element 2604 and wall mount holes 2606, or may be mounted toanother surface with screw holes 2608. A plurality of feet, such asnon-skid rubber feet 2614 may be disposed on the bottom surface of lowerhousing 2530 to provide stability and traction on a slick surface.

FIG. 27 is an exploded view of the battery charging module 2500 of FIG.25, illustrating details thereof. For example, a power supply 2708 maybe disposed with a housing formed by upper housing 2520 and lowerhousing 2530 mated together and secured by one or more fasteners, suchas screws 2706. An AC power cable (not shown) may electrically connectto power supply 2708 through a port or plug insert 2504 formed betweenupper housing 2520 and lower housing 2530. In an exemplary embodiment,the receiver module 2510 (FIG. 25) may include a charger contactreceiver assembly 2700 secured in a cradle 2710, which may be mounted tothe top surface of the upper housing 2520 with one or more fasteners,such as screws 2712. An adhesive element 1630 (FIG. 16), which may be,for example, a layer of adhesive backed silicone foam, or otherattachment mechanism, may be disposed between the bottom of chargercontact receiver assembly 2700 and the inside of cradle 2710. Otherelements and/or mechanisms for securing charger contact receiverassembly 2700 to cradle 2710 may also be used in various embodiments.The charger contact receiver assembly 2700 may include a DC power cableassembly 2702, which may include one or more hook up wires coupled to aDC power receptacle, to provide power and regulate voltage to thebattery pack module 600 (FIG. 6).

In an alternate embodiment, DC power cable assembly 2702 may optionallybe replaced with a standard RJ45 jack (not shown) to provide Power overEthernet (PoE).

FIG. 28 is an exploded view of the lower housing half of FIG. 25,illustrating details. For example, one or more non-skid rubber feet 2614may be fitted into foot holes 2818 on the bottom surface of lowerhousing 2530 to provide stability and traction on a slick surface. Thebattery charging module may be optionally wall mounted with wall mountholes 2606 or screw holes 2608.

FIG. 29 illustrates details of an embodiment of the charger contactreceiver assembly embodiment 2700 of FIG. 27. In one aspect, aninterface circuit, such as a charger PCB 2900, may be disposed on theunderside of charger contact receiver assembly 2700. Charger PCB 2900may be electrically connected to a battery circuit 3016 (FIG. 30) toprovide power to a battery module 3010 (FIG. 30), through wire bundle2910. One or more charger contact elements 2916 may be bent and solderedto charger PCB 2900. Wire bundle 2910 may be secured through a grommet2920.

In one aspect, charger PCB 2900 may optionally be configured to includeelectronics to allow a Lucid battery (not shown) to be charged overEthernet (receive power and data).

FIG. 30 is a block diagram illustrating details of a battery packcharging system 3000. In one aspect of an exemplary embodiment, abattery module 3010 may receive power from a battery charging module3050 across a charger PCB, such as a Lucid charger PCB 3030, as shown.Battery module 3010 may include, for example, a battery assembly 3020and a battery circuit 3016, and/or other circuitry not shown, such ascontrol and/or monitoring circuitry, communications circuitry, sensorcircuitry, and the like. Battery assembly 3020, which may include one ormore battery cells 3012 and additional circuitry, such as a PCM circuit3014, may electrically connect to a battery circuit 3016.

Battery module 3010 may be electrically connected to a charger PCB, suchas a Lucid charger PCB 3030, with a first connection 3022, which mayinclude a power connection, a ground connection, and a data connectionto carry current and information between the battery module 3010 andLucid charger PCB 3030. The Lucid charger PCB 3030, which may include acircuit, such as Lucid charger circuit 3032, may be electricallyconnected to a battery charging module 3050 with a connection 3042, suchas a cable, which may include a power wire (+) and a ground wire (−) tocarry current. A PCM circuit 3014 may be included and may be bundledwith battery cells to protect cells against events such as overcharging,over-discharging, short circuits and/or other problem conditions. PCMcircuit 3014 may also be configured to perform battery chargemanagement, monitoring, and/or control, in whole or in part.

A battery circuit 3016 may be included to provide functions such asdisplaying state of charge to a user (such as via LEDs as describedpreviously herein, such as RGB LEDs, red LEDs and/or green LEDs). Inaddition, battery circuit 3016 may provide functionality such asinterfacing the battery pack to a receiver or shoe element, providingcharge state displays and/or information, and/or may provide voltage orother battery or battery pack parameters or other information to thereceiver or shoe. Other components, such as switching elements, receiverand/or transmitter circuits, clocks, other sensors (e.g., temperature,pressure, etc.), processing elements, memory, and/or other circuitcomponents may also be included.

A charger circuit 3032 may be included to provide functions such asmeasuring battery parameters and providing power to the battery module3010. In addition, it may be used to provide an electrical interfacebetween a charger board/module 3030 and the battery charging module3050, as well as providing power to the battery module 3010 andregulating the voltage provided to the battery module 3010. Connections3022 and 3042 may be DC Power connections.

Referring to FIG. 31A, details of an alternate embodiment power supplyor Lucid compatible power supply system 3100 are illustrated. In oneaspect, an AC adapter 3120, which may include a transformer 3122, may beused to electrically connect a Lucid power adapter module 3110 via aport 3102 to a power source such as, for example, an electrical outlet3145 via a plug 3125. Gas or solar panels, or other power generationdevices may optionally be used as a power source to provide power to theLucid power adapter module 3110. Lucid power adapter module 3110 may beused to deliver power to a host device (not shown), such as a drill,locator, or other portable devices.

Referring to FIG. 31B, details of an alternate embodiment power supplysystem 3100B are illustrated. In one aspect, a circuit element 3150 maybe incorporated into a battery element such as lid element 120 (as shownin FIGS. 1A, and 2-5), as illustrated in the schematic of FIG. 31B. Sucha circuit may be used as a part of an intelligent battery system (alsodenoted herein as a “Lucid” or “Lucid Battery” system in accordance withan embodiment provided by Seektech, Inc., assignee of this application).Circuit element 3150 may include a battery circuit 3160, and/or aninterface circuit 3198, such as a Lucid Battery interface circuit toimplement functionality as described herein. Battery circuit 3160 may beon or incorporated in lid assembly 120 (FIGS. 1A, and 2-5), such as inthe form of an integral PCB lid. An AC adapter 3120B, may beelectrically connected to the battery circuit 3160 with a first wirebundle 3158, which may include one or more wires, such as, a power wire(+) and a ground wire (−), for carrying current between the AC adapterand battery circuit 3160.

Battery circuit 3160 may be electrically connected to an interfacecircuit 3198, such as a Lucid Battery interface, with a second wirebundle 3196, which may include one or more connections such as, forexample, a power connection (+), a data connection (DATA), and a groundconnection (−) for carrying current and information between batterycircuit 3160 and interface circuit 3198.

Battery circuit 3160 may include functional elements for providingbattery pack and battery system management. Such elements may beembodied in hardware and/or software. A battery control element, such asa PIC® element 3170, manufactured by Microchip Technologies, may includean on-board processing element, such as a microprocessor,microcontroller, or other programmable device, along with one or morememory elements, to perform various signal condition and/or processingfunctions as described herein. For example, a PIC® 3170 may includeon-board digital logic, such as a processing element, as well as anon-volatile memory element, such as an electrically erasableprogrammable read-only memory (EEPROM) 3172, flash memory, and/or otherdigital memory devices. These may be collectively referred to as abattery control element or module. The processor element, such as thePICO 3170, may also include integrated functional blocks, such asanalog-to-digital (A/D) converter 3174, digital to analog (D/A)converter (not shown) a real time-clock 3176, a General PurposeInput/Output (GPIO) 3178, and/or other peripheral blocks.

The GPIO element 3178 may be configured to receive instructions from,and supply data to, one or more control elements between battery circuit3160 and interface circuit 3198. Such data may be conveyed to theinterface circuit 3198 via a bus and data transmission protocol. GPIOelement 3178 may monitor the status of a power supply, and communicatestatus information by illuminating one or more status indicators, suchas a first LED 3184 and a second LED 3186, such as red LEDs, green LEDs,and RGB LEDs.

The processing element may be electrically connected to and/or includevarious front-end analog circuitry, such as an analog-to-digital (A/D)converter 3174, sensors, such as a current sense 3152, a voltage sense3164, a temperature sensor 3166, pressure sensors, moisture sensors,serial number/device identification information, and/or other sensors,components or other elements for use in measuring, monitoring, and/orcontrolling AC adapter or power supply conditions or operation. Acurrent sensor 3152, a voltage sensor 3164 and a temperature sensor 3166may measure the respective current, voltage, and temperature of thepower supply and such current, voltage, and temperature data may beconveyed to interface circuit 3198.

The processing element may additionally include or be connected to wiredand/or wireless communication element to provide one or morecommunications interfaces to provide communication between connecteddevices. The communication elements may be used to provide a bus anddata transmission protocol, which may be used to communicate with othercontrol elements. For example, various parameters saved in EEPROM 3172,such as state of charge (SOC), temperature data, voltage data, timedata, and the like may be polled by the interface circuit 3198.

In one aspect of an exemplary embodiment, battery circuit 3160 mayinclude one or more voltage regulators, such as LDO regulator 3162 forstepping down the input voltage provided from AC adapter 3120B.

In one aspect of an exemplary embodiment, one or more clock elements,such as a real-time clock (RTC) crystal 3182 (and associated componentssuch as electronics, processors, memories, and the like (not shown)),may be used to establish a reference time base, which may be useful forestimating battery self-discharge, or other battery conditions orstates. Collected data may be time stamped or otherwise marked with timeinformation.

For example, nonvolatile memory element, such as EEPROM 3172 may storeinformation, such as battery condition, battery state, and/or real timeclock 3176 data. Based on one or more battery parameter inputs stored inEEPROM 3172, such as charge history, discharge history, temperature,battery age, initial capacity, current battery capacity, estimated liferemaining, device cycling, and the like, the processing element mayprovide an indication of battery conditions, such as charge or dischargestate, battery cycling information, remaining battery life, and/or othersimilar or related information.

FIG. 32 illustrates details of an embodiment of a Lucid USBdevice/configurator 3220 receiving a data transfer from a computer, suchas a personal computer (PC) 3215. For example, the data transfer mayinclude a code or instruction update (e.g., update firmware or othersoftware for use in the battery or other devices coupled to the batterysuch as tools or instruments) and/or data. A battery code update may bedownloaded on PC 3215 and provided to Lucid USB device 3220 via a USBcord 3210 or other wired or wireless interface as known or developed inthe art for communicating data and information. Additional exampledetails are described subsequently herein with respect to FIGS. 33-41.

In one aspect, Lucid USB device/configurator 3220 may include amechanically compatible housing constructed similarly to Lucid batterypack 600 (FIG. 6) and Lucid power adapter 3110 (FIG. 31). Such aconstruction provides a mechanically similar device for transportingdata.

In one aspect, Lucid USB adapter 3220 may include electronics tofacilitate communication with the host device (interface) for updatingsoftware and exchanging data.

In some embodiments, an asynchronous mechanism (denoted herein as a“viral” mechanism) may be used to transfer data and/or code/instructionsbetween various Lucid battery systems devices. The transfers mayinclude, for example, updated code/instructions such as firmware orsoftware for execution in intelligent batteries and/or other coupleddevices. This may be done to facilitate firmware or other softwareupdates to various system components during normal operations use orthrough specific update/synchronization operations.

For example, FIG. 33 illustrates details of an embodiment of a batteryupdate mechanism 3300 for updating firmware (or other software or data).In an exemplary embodiment, updates may be communicated from a PC ormemory stick 3330 to an interface module 3320 on a host device 3350,via, for example, executable code, which may be written to a memoryelement 3322. When the battery module 3310 is connected to the hostdevice module 3350, such executable code may be written to a memoryelement 3314 on the battery module 3310, when the battery module 3310 ismated with the interface module 3320 of host device 3350. Similarly,code may be written to a memory element 3342 on the charging module 3340when the battery module 3310 (with newly updated code) is mated withcharging element 3340. Memory elements 3314, 3322, and 3342 may benon-volatile memory, such as an EEPROM. One or more battery parameters3312, such as capacity, charge/discharge cycles, cycle count, batterychemistry, serial number, and voltage may be stored on a memory element,such as a flash memory element or other data storage element, in batterymodule 3310.

Still referring to FIG. 33, a cargo of a data transmission, such as adata payload 3305 may be communicated across and reside on one or moreLucid and non-Lucid devices, as described in example FIG. 34.

FIG. 34 illustrates an example embodiment 3400 of a viral or viral-likescheme for transferring code, data, or other information, such asexecutable code or other instructions, operation device and/or batterydata, and/or other information across one or more modules and devices.Element I through Element V of FIG. 34 illustrate embodiments ofexemplary data transfer stages related to both the viral distribution ofupdated code/program data and the viral recovery of data on devices,such as on a connected tool or instrument, a Lucid battery, a Lucidcharger and/or a Lucid interface device to computer system such as aremote server or database, such as a cloud-based server or database orother computer system or device.

At stage 341, a first host device 3410 may include a module forproviding a network or Internet connection, such as to provide aconnection to the Internet 3402 using a wireless WiFi 3412 or cellularmodem connection (or other network connection, such as a wiredconnection via USB, Ethernet, etc.). Host device 3410 may have afirmware/software update available for a first Lucid interface 3414.

For example, the first host device 3410 may download the firmwareupdate, and provide the update to the first Lucid interface. A firstLucid battery 3418 may be connected to first host device 3410, e.g., bymating the adapted with a battery connector on the host device 3410, viaa first Lucid interface 3414. When first Lucid battery 3418 is connectedto first Lucid interface 3414, a software version check may be performedto determine whether first Lucid battery 3418 or first Lucid interface3414 holds preferential executable code (typically, a later versionnumber), as shown in FIG. 22. As both first Lucid interface 3414 andfirst Lucid battery 3418 may independently hold in their respectivememory elements executable code for the Lucid Battery, Lucid Chargerand/or Lucid Interface, the Software Version Check may be applied toeach executable code individually. Lucid Interface 3414 may havepreferential executable code, and may transfer that executable code “P”to first Lucid battery 3418. Alternately, or in addition, Lucid battery3418 and Lucid interface 3414 may exchange data “D,” such as datacollected from battery operation and/or operation of devices connectedto the battery, such as tools, instruments, etc.

At stage 3411, first Lucid Battery 3418 may be connected to a firstLucid charger 3422, which may be the case if first Lucid battery 3418has been used to depletion or partial depletion and requires recharge.In some embodiments, the first Lucid charger 3422 may not be configuredto provide a network or internet connection, and is thus an “unreachabledevice” to the outside world. When first Lucid battery 3418 is connectedto first Lucid charger 3422, a software version check and/or data checkmay be performed. As first Lucid Battery 3418 may have been recentlyupdated by first Lucid interface 3414, first Lucid battery 3418 may befound to have preferential executable code, and first Lucid charger 3422may receive updated executable code “P” from first Lucid battery 3418.Alternately, or in addition, first Lucid battery 3418 and first Lucidcharger 3422 may exchange data “D.”

At stage 34111, a second Lucid Battery 3424 may be connected to firstLucid charger 3422, such as for example, if Lucid Battery 2 has beenused to depletion or partial depletion and requires recharge. Whensecond Lucid battery 3424 is connected to first Lucid charger 3422, asoftware version check and/or data check may be performed. As firstLucid charger 3422 may be recently updated by first Lucid battery 3418,first Lucid charger 3422 may be found to have preferential executablecode, and second Lucid battery 3424 may receive updated executable code“P” from a first Lucid charger 3422. Alternately, or in addition, secondLucid battery 3424 and first Lucid charger 3422 may exchange data “D.”

At stage 34IV, second Lucid battery 3424 may be connected to a secondHost Device 3430 via a second Lucid interface 3432. In this particularexample, second host Device 3430 may not be configured with an internetconnection and is thus an “unreachable device” to the outside world.When a second Lucid battery 3424 is connected to second host device3430, a software version check may be performed. As second Lucid battery3424 was recently updated by first Lucid charger 3422, second Lucidbattery 3424 may be found to have preferential executable code, andsecond Lucid interface 3432 may receive updated executable code “P” fromsecond Lucid battery 3424. Alternately, or in addition, first Lucidbattery 3424 and second Lucid interface 3432 may exchange data “D.”

At stage 34V, the second Lucid battery 3424 may be again connected toHost Device 1 by means of first Lucid Interface 3414. When second Lucidbattery 3424 is connected to first Lucid interface 3414, a softwareversion check may be performed. If first Lucid interface 3414 hasreceived an update in the intervening time, it may be found to havepreferential executable code, and second Lucid battery 3424 may receiveupdated executable code from first Lucid interface 3414. Alternately, orin addition, second Lucid battery 3424 and first Lucid interface 3414may exchange data “D.”

Still referring to stage V, the data “D”, which may be received by firstLucid interface 3414 may include data “D” from first Lucid charger 1,data “D” from Lucid Interface 2, and/or data “D” from Lucid Battery 2.Although Lucid charger 3422, second Lucid interface 3432, and secondLucid battery 3424 are not configured with an internet connection 3402,the Viral Distribution and Viral Recovery mechanisms herein describedhave provided a path to the internet 3402 via first host device 3410through first Lucid interface 3414. Data “D” are exchanged with a remoteserver or database such as a cloud-based server or database through theinternet 3402.

As shown in FIG. 34 at stages I-V, various types of data may be sharedacross one or more modules or devices in the above described examples.For example, one or more data payload parameters, such as thosedescribed in the example Data Payload Table (Table I) below may beexchanged across a battery interface (on a host device), one or morebatteries, one or more charging modules, and a computer system orcloud-based server or database, which may be provided through theinternet 3402.

TABLE I Example Data Payloads Data Payload Real Time Voltage BatteryBorn- Interface Born- Charger Duration Instrument on Date on Date ofAttempts to Stress History Charge Non- Lucid Battery Real Time CurrentBattery Firm- Interface Firm- Instrument Serial Instrument Total wareVersion ware Version No. Run Time Real Time Current Battery InterfaceIdle Instrument Born- Instrument Idle Temperature State-of-Charge Timeon Date Time Real Time State- Last Known Interface Hardware InstrumentHard- Instrument Image/ of-Charge Battery State- Version ware VersionVideo/Audio Data of-Charge Battery Serial No. Number of Battery ChargerSerial Instrument Firm- Instrument Operator Charge and No. ware VersionGenerated Data Discharge Cycles Battery Chemistry Battery Charge ChargerBorn- Instrument Soft- Instrument to and Discharge on date ware VersionInstrument history Communications Battery Nominal Number of ChargerHard- Instrument Soft- Instrument Number Voltage Times Lucid wareVersion ware Crash of Uses While Battery Used Information Powered by aon Non-Lucid Non-Lucid Battery Device Battery Rated Duration of TimeCharger Firm- Instrument Instrument Duration Capacity Lucid Battery wareVersion Location History of Uses While Used on Non- Powered by a Non-Lucid Device Lucid Battery Battery Hardware Battery Temperature ChargerIdle Instrument Instrument Temperature Version History Time OperatorHistory Battery Idle Interface Serial Charger Number Instrument DataTime Stamps Time number of Attempts to Odometer Charge Non- LucidBattery

In the example of FIG. 34, various host, charger, and battery deviceconnections are shown for purposes of illustration. It is noted,however, that many other permutations of devices and connections may bedone in various embodiments. For example, a battery may be connected tomultiple chargers and/or host devices (along with associated datatransfers) before being able to transfer data for Internet or othernetwork provisioning to computer systems or remote servers. In addition,the functionality described herein with respect to the host device 1 maysimilarly be implemented in charger devices, tools, instruments, orother electronic devices in various configurations.

FIG. 35 illustrates details of an example embodiment 3500 of anintelligent (Lucid) tool, instrument, or other device (e.g., a portablecomputer system, buried object locator, cutting or sawing tool, drillingtool, pressing tool, video inspection system, lighting device, etc.).Device 3500 provides some form of utility such as cutting or othermechanical operations, lighting or imaging, signal processing,measurement, analysis, and the like. This may be done through functionalelement(s) 3510 which may include one or more sensors 3512 and may bepowered by a power source such as a Lucid battery as described herein.

Device 3500 may include one or more processing elements 3540 along withone or more memories 3550 coupled to the processing element and to otherelements (e.g., to interface/communication element 3570 or otherelements (not shown)). Device 3500 may include a power and controlcircuit element 3530 which may be coupled to the processor 3540 via ananalog or digital connection 3547 to facilitate provision of powerand/or control to the device's functional element 3510 via connection3533. Processing element 3540 may have a dedicated 3547 connection topower/control circuit 3530 or may used a shared connection such as abus.

Data from sensor 3512 may be provided via a sensor connection 3541, suchas a serial or parallel digital interface or analog interface, andsensed data or information may be stored in memory 3550. Device 3500 mayhave a unique serial number/device ID 3552 which may be stored in fixedor rewritable memory 3552. Memory 3552 may have a separate connection3555 to processing element 3540 (and/or to other elements, not shown) ormay used a shared connection such as a data bus, serial connection, etc.Memory 3552 may also include other data or information about the deviceand may be either a separate memory space or part of memory 3550.

One or more interface/communication element 3570 may be used to transferdata, code, or other information between device 3500 and a coupleddevice, such as a Lucid battery as described previously herein and/or asshown in FIGS. 36 and 37. Data may be transferred between processingelement 3540 via a communications interface 3545, and communicationelement 3570 may be further coupled to other elements, such as memories3550, 3552, to allow for direct access to stored data or code, such asvia interface 3553. Communication element 3570 may be coupled to acommunication link or links 3571 to transfer and receive data from aconnected device such as a Lucid battery as described herein. Power froma Lucid battery or other power supply device may be provided to device3500 via connection 3531. In some embodiments, device 3500 may include anetwork connection element (not shown), such as a wired or wirelessInternet connection, and may function as a host device as describedpreviously in FIG. 34.

FIG. 36 illustrates details of one embodiment 3600 of a Lucid battery.Battery 3600 may be used to power various devices, such as, for example,a tool, instrument, portable computer system, buried object locator,cutting or sawing tool, drilling tool, pressing tool, video inspectionsystem, lighting device, or other powered devices. Battery 3600 provideselectrical power through a power supply element, typically one or morebattery cells 3610. One or more sensors 3612 may be coupled to the cellsor other battery components, such as conductors, switches or othercircuit element, cases or housing, and the like to sense battery packconditions.

The power supply/cells 3610 may be coupled directly to power outputconductors 3611 or, in some embodiments, may include an output switchingcircuit 3680, such as a power FET circuit for turning the output on oroff (or, in some embodiments, controlling output power such as bylimiting voltage or current, etc.). Output control using switchingcircuit 3680 may be done based on conditions such as internalover-temperature, excessive current or power consumption, duty cyclelimitations, mismatch between battery and connected device serialnumbers or other information, time parameters (e.g., based on real timeclock information), and the like. Output circuit 3680 may be controlledby a battery charging, control and/or monitoring circuit 3620 viaconnection 3625 and/or by a processing element 3640.

Control circuit 3620 may include additional elements such as one or moresensors 3622, a real time clock 3624, and related circuit elements (notshown). Control/monitoring circuit 3620 may include hardware, software,analog and/or digital electronics, and/or other circuit and/ormechanical elements to provide battery measurement, monitoring, andcontrol functionality as described herein such as to measure/countcharging/discharging rates, cycles, timing, fuel gauging, enabling,disabling power output, and the like. Power may be provided from a powersource such as line power, a battery charger, etc., via connection 3621which may be coupled to control circuit 3620 and/or directly to powersupply 3610.

Battery operation may be controlled, in whole or in part, by one or moreprocessing elements 3640, which may be coupled to one or more memories3650, such as via connection 3651. Processing element 3640 may also becoupled to sensors 3612 and 3622, such as via connections 3613 and 3623,respectively, to receive sensory data. The sensor connections 3613, 3623may be, for example, serial or parallel digital interfaces or analoginterfaces, and sensed data or information may be stored in memory 3650via connection 3651. Device 3600 may have a unique serial number/deviceID 3652 which may be stored in fixed or rewritable memory 3652. Memory3652 may have a separate connection 3655 to processing element 3640(and/or to other elements, not shown) or may used a shared connectionsuch as a data bus, serial connection, etc. Memory 3652 may also includeother data or information about the device and may be either a separatememory space or part of memory 3650.

One or more interface/communication elements 3670 may be used totransfer data, code, or other information between battery 3600 and acoupled device, such as a host device, tool, charger, etc. as describedherein and/or as shown in FIGS. 34, 35, 38 and 39. Data may betransferred between processing element 3640 via a communicationsinterface 3645, and communication element 3670 may be further coupled toother elements, such as memories 3650, 3652, to allow for direct accessto stored data or code, such as via interface 3653.

Communication element 3670 may be coupled to a communication link orlinks 3761 to transfer and receive data from a connected device such asa host device, tool, charger, etc. as described herein.

FIG. 37 illustrates details of another embodiment 3700 of a Lucidbattery which is similar to embodiment 3600 but further includes one ormore network communication elements 3790 to facilitate networkcommunications via connection 3791.

Battery 3700 may be used to power various devices, such as, for example,a tool, instrument, portable computer system, buried object locator,cutting or sawing tool, drilling tool, pressing tool, video inspectionsystem, lighting device, or other powered devices. Battery 3700 provideselectrical power through a power supply element, typically one or morebattery cells 3710. One or more sensors 3712 may be coupled to the cellsor other battery components, such as conductors, switches or othercircuit element, cases or housing, and the like to sense battery packconditions.

The power supply/cells 3710 may be coupled directly to power outputconductors 3711 or, in some embodiments, may include an output switchingcircuit 3780, such as a power FET circuit for turning the output on oroff (or, in some embodiments, controlling output power such as bylimiting voltage or current, etc.). Output control using switchingcircuit 3780 may be done based on conditions such as internalover-temperature, excessive current or power consumption, duty cyclelimitations, mismatch between battery and connected device serialnumbers or other information, time parameters (e.g., based on real timeclock information), and the like. Output circuit 3780 may be controlledby a battery charging, control and/or monitoring circuit 3720 viaconnection 3725 and/or by a processing element 3740.

Control circuit 3720 may include additional elements such as one or moresensors 3722, a real time clock 3724, and related circuit elements (notshown). Control/monitoring circuit 3720 may include hardware, software,analog and/or digital electronics, and/or other circuit and/ormechanical elements to provide battery measurement, monitoring, andcontrol functionality as described herein such as to measure/countcharging/discharging rates, cycles, timing, fuel gauging, enabling,disabling power output, and the like. Power may be provided from a powersource such as line power, a battery charger, etc., via connection 3721which may be coupled to control circuit 3720 and/or directly to powersupply 3710.

Battery operation may be controlled, in whole or in part, by one or moreprocessing elements 3740, which may be coupled to one or more memories3750, such as via connection 3751. Processing element 3740 may also becoupled to sensors 3712 and 3722, such as via connections 3713 and 3723,respectively, to receive sensory data. The sensor connections 3713, 3723may be, for example, serial or parallel digital interfaces or analoginterfaces, and sensed data or information may be stored in memory 3750via connection 3751. Device 3700 may have a unique serial number/deviceID 3752 which may be stored in fixed or rewritable memory 3752. Memory3752 may have a separate connection 3755 to processing element 3740(and/or to other elements, not shown) or may used a shared connectionsuch as a data bus, serial connection, etc. Memory 3752 may also includeother data or information about the device and may be either a separatememory space or part of memory 3750.

One or more interface/communication elements 3770 may be used totransfer data, code, or other information between battery 3600 and acoupled device, such as a host device, tool, charger, etc. as describedherein and/or as shown in FIGS. 34, 35, 38 and 39. Data may betransferred between processing element 3640 via a communicationsinterface 3745, and communication element 3770 may be further coupled toother elements, such as memories 3750, 3752, to allow for direct accessto stored data or code, such as via interface 3753. Communicationelement 3770 may be coupled to a communication link or links 3771 totransfer and receive data from a connected device such as a host device,tool, charger, etc. as described herein.

Battery embodiment 3700 may also include a wired or wireless networkcommunication element 3790, such as a wireless module (e.g., Bluetooth,Wi-Fi, Cellular, etc.) and/or wired module (e.g., USB, Ethernet, etc.)and may further include additional elements such as a web server module(not shown) and the like. Module 3790 may be connected to process 3740via connection 3749 and may send and receive data or other information,such as code or instructions, via one or more communication links 3791,which may be wired or wireless links.

FIG. 38 illustrates details of an example embodiment 3800 of anintelligent (Lucid) non-networked battery charger device. Charger 3800provides charging and data transfer functionality to enabled batteriessuch as the Lucid battery embodiments described herein. Power may beprovided via charging power connection 3811 which may be controlled by abattery charging/monitoring/conditioning circuit 3810. Wall or othersupply power to the charger may be provided via connection 3893, such asthrough a wall wart or other power supply device.

Charger 3800 may include one or more processing elements 3840 along withone or more memories 3850 coupled to the processing element and to otherelements (e.g., to interface/communication element 3870 or otherelements (not shown)). Charging circuit 3810 may including electronics,hardware, and/or software to measure battery information for a coupledbattery and provide controlled charging power to the battery. Chargecircuit 3810 may include one or more sensors 3812 to sense chargingand/or related conditions and provide information via connection 3843 toprocessing element 3840. Processing element 3840 may be coupled tobattery charging circuitry 3810 to control provision of power and/or tocontrol signaling to the battery being charged. Processing element 3540may have a dedicated connection to circuit 3810 or may use a sharedconnection such as a bus.

Data from sensor 3812 may be provided via a sensor connection 3841, suchas a serial or parallel digital interface or analog interface, andsensed data or information may be stored in memory 3850. Charger 3800may have a unique serial number/device ID which may be stored in fixedor rewritable memory 3852. Memory 3852 may have a separate connection3855 to processing element 3840 (and/or to other elements, not shown) ormay used a shared connection such as a data bus, serial connection, etc.Memory 3852 may also include other data or information about the deviceand may be either a separate memory space or part of memory 3850.

One or more interface/communication elements 3870 may be used totransfer data, code, or other information between charger 3800 and acoupled device, such as a Lucid battery as described previously hereinand/or as shown in FIGS. 36 and 37. Data may be transferred betweenprocessing element 3840 via a communications interface 3845, andcommunication element 3870 may be further coupled to other elements,such as memories 3850, 3852, to allow for direct access to stored dataor code, such as via interface 3853. Communication element 3870 may becoupled to a communication link or links 3871 to transfer and receivedata from a connected device such as a Lucid battery as describedherein. In some embodiments, charger 3800 may include a networkconnection element (not shown), such as a wired or wireless Internetconnection, and may function as a host device as described previously inFIG. 34.

In some embodiments, Lucid Charger 3800 (or Charger 3900) may beequipped with an RFID (or similar) reader (not shown). The RFID readermay receive information from an RFID as to uniquely identify a user. Atsuch time as a proximal RFID is read by the RFID reader, Lucid Charger3800 may transfer the unique identifier to an attached Lucid Battery,and, therethrough, the attached Lucid Battery may store a uniqueidentifier originally contained on the RFID. This unique identifier maybe associated with other parameters such as approved Lucid Interfacesand associated Host Devices (such as 3500) for power delivery. Theunique identifier may also be transmitted for remote processing, as by3900 or by the processed described in FIG. 34I-V. The RFID reader andassociated values may optionally be disposed on Lucid Battery 3600itself.

FIG. 39 illustrates details of another embodiment 3900 of an intelligent(Lucid) battery charger device. Charger 3900 may be similar to charger3800 with the addition of networking capability including communicationsinterface 3970 which allows networked data transfer via communicationlink 3971. In operation, charger 3900 provides charging and datatransfer functionality to enabled batteries such as the Lucid batteryembodiments described herein. Power may be provided via charging powerconnection 3911 which may be controlled by a batterycharging/monitoring/conditioning circuit 3910.

Charger 3900 may include one or more processing elements 3940 along withone or more memories 3950 coupled to the processing element and to otherelements (e.g., to interface/communication element 3970 or otherelements (not shown)). Charging circuit 3910 may including electronics,hardware, and/or software to measure battery information for a coupledbattery and provide controlled charging power to the battery. Chargecircuit 3810 may include one or more sensors 3912 to sense chargingand/or related conditions and provide information via connection 3943 toprocessing element 3940. Processing element 3940 may be coupled tobattery charging circuitry 3910 to control provision of power and/or tocontrol signaling to the battery being charged. Processing element 3940may have a dedicated connection to circuit 3910 or may use a sharedconnection such as a bus.

Data from sensor 3912 may be provided via a sensor connection 3943, suchas a serial or parallel digital interface or analog interface, andsensed data or information may be stored in memory 3950. Charger 3900may have a unique serial number/device ID which may be stored in fixedor rewritable memory 3952. Memory 3952 may have a separate connection3955 to processing element 3940 (and/or to other elements, not shown) ormay used a shared connection such as a data bus, serial connection, etc.Memory 3952 may also include other data or information about the deviceand may be either a separate memory space or part of memory 3950.

One or more interface/communication elements 3970 may be used totransfer data, code, or other information between charger 3900 and acoupled device, such as a Lucid battery as described previously hereinand/or as shown in FIGS. 36 and 37. Data may be transferred betweenprocessing element 3940 via a communications interface 3945, andcommunication element 3970 may be further coupled to other elements,such as memories 3950, 3952, to allow for direct access to stored dataor code, such as via interface 3953. Communication element 3970 may becoupled to a communication link or links 3971 to transfer and receivedata from a connected device such as a Lucid battery as describedherein.

Charger embodiment 3900 may also include a wired or wireless networkcommunication element 3990, such as a wireless module (e.g., Bluetooth,Wi-Fi, Cellular, etc.) and/or wired module (e.g., USB, Ethernet, etc.)and may further include additional elements such as a web server module(not shown) and the like. Module 3990 may be connected to processor 3940via connection 3947 and may send and receive data or other information,such as code or instructions, via one or more communication links 3991,which may be wired or wireless links. One or more power andcommunication connections 3993 may be implemented with an Ethernet cable(not shown) to provide Power over Ethernet (PoE). Connection 3993 mayalternately just provide line power from a power source such as a wallwart or other power supply.

FIG. 40 illustrates details of an example connection 4000 between aLucid enabled tool or other device, such as device embodiment 3500 asdescribed previously herein, and a Lucid battery, such as batteryembodiments 3600 or 3700 as described previously herein. As shown inFIG. 40, when a battery is coupled to an enabled device, power may beprovided from the battery 3600 to the device 3500 via a power cable orother conductor 3611 and associated contacts or other connectors. Inaddition, data and/or instructions, such as firmware or software updatesmay be transferred from the tool or other device via wired communicationconnection 3572A, and likewise data and/or instructions may betransferred from the battery 3600 to the device 3500 via communicationconnection 3572B. For example, the latest operational code may betransferred between the devices and/or operational or other data maylikewise be transferred. Data and/or code transfer may be done in thisfashion to implement viral operations as described previously withrespect to FIG. 34.

FIG. 41 illustrates details of another example connection 4100 between aLucid charger embodiment 3800 or 3900 (or enabled device, such as a hostdevice) as described previously herein, and a Lucid battery, such asbattery embodiments 3600 or 3700 as described previously herein. Asshown in FIG. 41, when a battery is coupled to an enabled charger,charging power may be provided from the charger 3800 to the battery 3600via a power cable or other conductor 3611 and associated contacts orother connectors. In addition, data and/or instructions, such asfirmware or software updates may be transferred from the charger viawired communication connection 3672A, and likewise data and/orinstructions may be transferred from the battery 3600 to the charger3800 via communication connection 3672B. For example, the latestoperational code may be transferred between the devices and/oroperational or other data may likewise be transferred. Data and/or codetransfer may be done in this fashion to implement viral operations asdescribed previously with respect to FIG. 34.

FIG. 42 illustrates details of an example process embodiment 4200 forproviding controlled smart disconnection of battery output duringinitial battery connection or during battery operation (e.g., whensupplying power to a coupled device or being charged from a coupleddevice such as a charger). For example, process 4200 may begin at stage4210 when a intelligent (Lucid) battery, such as batteries 3600 or 3700as described previously herein, are coupled to a battery powered device,such as device 3500 as described previously herein. A device IDassociated with device 3500, such as the serial number stored in memory3552 as shown in FIG. 35, may optionally be received by the battery atstage 4214. In some embodiments no device ID may be available, in whichcase stage 4214 may be ignored. At stage 4218 battery operation may beinitiated or continued. In embodiments where batteries and/or connecteddevices include sensors or other monitoring elements, such as sensors3512, 3612, 3622, and/or other sensor or monitoring elements, a batteryparameter or condition may be sensed at stage 4220 and provided to abattery control circuit, such as control circuit 3620 as shown in FIG.36.

If the parameter is out of range and/or the device ID is anon-acceptable device (for example, if the device has a serial numbermatched to particular batteries and/or users associated with the deviceor battery, or if the device requires more power or power at differentvoltages or currents than the battery can provide, or for other impropercombinations), a decision stage 4230 may be implemented, where thebattery output may be limited or otherwise controlled and/or may bedisabled entirely at stage 4240. This may be done by, for example,switching an output circuit, such as output switching circuit 3680 ofFIG. 36, to an off state (or otherwise switching the output, such asthrough use of FETs, relays, etc.) at stage 4240. For example, asecurity function may be implemented this way to prevent stolen orotherwise unauthorized batteries to be coupled to tools or otherdevices, or conversely to prevent unauthorized tools to be connected tousable batteries. In addition, monitoring of battery functionality maysimilarly be implemented in this way, such as by disabling batteryoperation during certain times or under other conditions or by certainusers. If operation is within range and the device ID is acceptable,normal battery operation may be continued at stage 4218.

In some embodiments, approval or authorization for use of the batterymay expire when certain conditions are met, such as time expiration,removal of battery from device, connection with a charger after use,and/or other security or operationally related conditions. The conditionfor approval expiration may be determined by the lucid battery, thelucid charger, the user, and/or a user profile (which may be storedlocally, or contained in RFID data), by a system operator, and/or byothers who may desire to control access or usage. Userprofiles/preferences may be used, for example, to configure options forcertain devices or instruments, such as default drill speed, preferredgraphical menu layout on devices with screens, volume of audibleindicators and/or warnings, and other such options. In addition, userprofiles/preferences may be used to configure options for the Lucidbattery itself, such as setting the scheme with which a batteryindicates it's state-of-charge using its built-in LED, or other,indicators. In addition, in some embodiments a Lucid battery may beconfigured to display a unique pattern with its LED indicators if it isnot currently approved for use, or as a warning that its approval may beclose to expiration. This may be done using the LED output displayfunctionality described previously herein and/or via other output means,such as audible outputs.

In some configurations, the apparatus or systems described herein mayinclude means for implementing features or providing functions describedherein. In one aspect, the aforementioned means may be a processingelement or module including a processor or processors, associated memoryand/or other electronics in which embodiments of the invention reside,such as to implement battery measurement, monitoring, data storage,control, and/or to receive, store, and send data or code/instructionsfrom batteries and coupled devices, to control battery output based onconditions or security constraints, and/or to perform other battery andassociated device functions as described herein. These may be, forexample, modules or apparatus residing in batteries, chargers, coupleddevices such as host devices, tools, instruments, computers or computersystems, or similar devices or systems.

In one or more exemplary embodiments, the electronic functions, methodsand processes described herein and associated with battery packs andbattery chargers may be implemented in hardware, software, firmware, orany combination thereof in one or more processing elements. Ifimplemented in software, the functions may be stored on or encoded asone or more instructions or code on a computer-readable medium.Computer-readable media includes computer storage media. Storage mediamay be any available media that can be accessed by a computer. By way ofexample, and not limitation, such computer-readable media can compriseRAM, ROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM or other optical disk storage, magnetic diskstorage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium that canbe used to carry or store desired program code in the form ofinstructions or data structures and that can be accessed by a computer.Disk and disc, as used herein, includes compact disc (CD), laser disc,optical disc, digital versatile disc (DVD), floppy disk and blu-ray discwhere disks usually reproduce data magnetically, while discs reproducedata optically with lasers. Combinations of the above should also beincluded within the scope of computer-readable media.

As used herein, computer program products comprising computer-readablemedia including all forms of computer-readable medium except, to theextent that such media is deemed to be non-statutory, transitorypropagating signals.

It is understood that the specific order or hierarchy of steps or stagesin the processes and methods disclosed herein are examples of exemplaryapproaches. Based upon design preferences, it is understood that thespecific order or hierarchy of steps in the processes may be rearrangedwhile remaining within the scope of the present disclosure.

Those of skill in the art would understand that information and signals,such as video and/or audio signals or data, control signals, or othersignals or data may be represented using any of a variety of differenttechnologies and techniques. For example, data, instructions, commands,information, signals, bits, symbols, and chips that may be referencedthroughout the above description may be represented by voltages,currents, electromagnetic waves, magnetic fields or particles, opticalfields or particles, or any combination thereof.

Those of skill would further appreciate that the various illustrativelogical blocks, modules, circuits, and algorithm steps described inconnection with the embodiments disclosed herein may be implemented aselectronic hardware, computer software, electro-mechanical components,or combinations thereof. Whether such functionality is implemented ashardware or software depends upon the particular application and designconstraints imposed on the overall system. Skilled artisans mayimplement the described functionality in varying ways for eachparticular application, but such implementation decisions should not beinterpreted as causing a departure from the scope of the presentdisclosure.

The various illustrative functions and circuits described in connectionwith the embodiments disclosed herein with respect to batteries, batterysystems, tools, instruments, chargers, and other described devices maybe implemented or performed in one or more processing elements usingelements such as a general or special purpose processor, a digitalsignal processor (DSP), an application specific integrated circuit(ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA) or other programmablelogic device, discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardwarecomponents, or any combination thereof designed to perform the functionsdescribed herein. A general purpose processor may be a microprocessor,but in the alternative, the processor may be any conventional processor,controller, microcontroller, or state machine. A processor may also beimplemented as a combination of computing devices, e.g., a combinationof a DSP and a microprocessor, a plurality of microprocessors, one ormore microprocessors in conjunction with a DSP core, or any other suchconfiguration. Processing elements may include hardware and/orsoftware/firmware to implement the functions described herein in variouscombinations.

The steps or stages of a method, process or algorithm described inconnection with the embodiments disclosed herein may be embodieddirectly in hardware, in a software module executed by a processor, orin a combination of the two. A software module may reside in RAM memory,flash memory, ROM memory, EPROM memory, EEPROM memory, registers, harddisk, a removable disk, a CD-ROM, or any other form of storage mediumknown in the art. An exemplary storage medium is coupled to theprocessor such that the processor can read information from, and writeinformation to, the storage medium. In the alternative, the storagemedium may be integral to the processor. The processor and the storagemedium may reside in an ASIC. The ASIC may reside in a user terminal. Inthe alternative, the processor and the storage medium may reside asdiscrete components in a user terminal.

The presently claimed invention is not intended to be limited to theaspects shown herein, but is to be accorded the full scope consistentwith the specification and drawings, wherein reference to an element inthe singular is not intended to mean “one and only one” unlessspecifically so stated, but rather “one or more.” Unless specificallystated otherwise, the term “some” refers to one or more. A phrasereferring to “at least one of” a list of items refers to any combinationof those items, including single members. As an example, “at least oneof: a, b, or c” is intended to cover: a; b; c; a and b; a and c; b andc; and a, b and c.

The previous description of the disclosed aspects is provided to enableany person skilled in the art to make or use embodiments of thepresently claimed invention. Various modifications to these aspects willbe readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the genericprinciples defined herein may be applied to other aspects withoutdeparting from the spirit or scope of the disclosure. Thus, thepresently claimed invention is not intended to be limited to the aspectsand details shown herein but is to be accorded the widest scopeconsistent with the appended claims and their equivalents.

We claim:
 1. A battery enclosure, comprising: an outer casing assembly;a thermally conductive structural housing element configured to house abattery assembly in an interior volume, the thermally conductivestructural housing element including an opening for placement of thebattery assembly within the inner volume; a lid element configured tocover the opening in the thermally conductive structural housing elementand mechanically reinforce the thermally conductive structural housingelement, the lid element including a circuit element for electricallycoupling the battery cell to a battery-powered device; and a ventassembly configured to allow exchange of gases to and from the interiorvolume and restrict entry of water into the interior volume.
 2. Thebattery enclosure of claim 1, wherein the thermally conductivestructural housing element comprises a metal.
 3. The battery enclosureof claim 1, wherein the thermally conductive structural housing elementcomprises a flame retardant plastic material.
 4. The battery enclosureof claim 1, wherein the thermally conductive structural housing elementincludes one or more apertures configured to allow light transmissionfrom the interior volume.
 5. The battery enclosure of claim 1, furthercomprising a sealing element disposed between the thermally conductivestructural housing element and the lid element to provide a waterproofseal of the interior volume.
 6. The battery enclosure of claim 1,wherein the lid element comprises a printed circuit board (PCB)assembly.
 7. The battery enclosure of claim 6, wherein the lid elementcomprises a PCB exterior layer and a metallic interior layer.
 8. Thebattery enclosure of claim 7, wherein the PCB exterior layer comprises aflame retardant material.
 9. The battery enclosure of claim 6, whereinthe PCB includes a surface mount connector for coupling the batteryassembly to the circuit assembly.
 10. The battery enclosure of claim 6,wherein the PCB includes one or more contact assemblies for electricallycoupling the battery assembly to the battery-powered device, wherein theone or more contact assemblies are configured to provide a wiping actionduring a connection with the battery-powered device.
 11. The batteryenclosure of claim 10, wherein the one or more contact assembliescomprise a plurality of contact assemblies and wherein a first subset ofthe plurality of contact assemblies is configured to provide anelectrical power connection between the battery assembly and thebattery-powered device and a second subset of the plurality of contactassemblies is configured to provide a data connection between thebattery assembly and the battery-powered device.
 12. The batteryenclosure of claim 6, wherein the PCB includes a battery control elementcomprising an electronic circuit configured to provide information on abattery assembly state and/or operating condition.
 13. The batteryenclosure of claim 12, wherein the battery assembly state is a batteryelement charge state.
 14. The battery enclosure of claim 12, furthercomprising a switch element coupled to the battery control element,wherein the information on a battery condition is provided responsive toan actuation of the switch.
 15. The battery enclosure of claim 12,wherein the battery control element includes an electronic circuitconfigured to control an operating function of the battery assembly. 16.The battery enclosure of claim 1, further including a communicationelement configured to send or receive data or signals associated with abattery assembly state and/or operating condition.
 17. The batteryenclosure of claim 16, wherein the data or signals are associated with abattery element charge condition.
 18. The battery enclosure of claim 18,further includes a clock device.
 19. The battery enclosure of claim 18,further including a non-volatile memory element for storing batterycondition or state information and time information provided from theclock device.
 20. The battery enclosure of claim 19, wherein the batterycondition or state information includes battery usage information. 21.The battery enclosure of claim 19, wherein the battery condition ofstate information includes charge and/or discharge cycle information.22. The battery enclosure of claim 19, wherein the battery condition orstate information includes battery load information.
 23. The batteryenclosure of claim 1, further including a non-volatile memory elementfor storing information on a battery condition.
 24. The batteryenclosure of claim 1, further including a status indicator elementconfigured to provide a visual indication of a condition or state of thebattery assembly.
 25. The battery enclosure of claim 24, wherein thestatus indicator element comprises a light emitting diode (LED).
 26. Thebattery enclosure of claim 24, wherein the condition or state of thebattery assembly is a state of charge.
 27. The battery enclosure ofclaim 1, wherein the vent assembly is disposed on or within the lidelement or the thermally conductive structural housing element.
 28. Thebattery enclosure of claim 27, wherein the vent assembly comprises aplurality of holes covered by a hydrophobic gas-permeable membrane. 29.The battery enclosure of claim 1, wherein the outer casing comprises acapture shell assembly and a bottom case shell assembly connected to thecapture shell assembly to enclose the thermally conductive structuralhousing element and the lid element.
 30. The battery enclosure of claim1, wherein the outer casing includes a sliding contact seal disposed toform a seal with a receiver module.
 31. The battery enclosure of claim1, wherein the outer casing includes a release latch element configuredto facilitate mechanical release of the battery enclosure from areceiver module.
 32. The battery enclosure of claim 31, wherein therelease latch element is further configured to actuate a switch element.33. The battery enclosure of claim 32, wherein the switch element iscoupled to an electronic circuit element configured to determine abattery condition responsive to switch actuation.
 34. The batteryenclosure of claim 33, wherein the battery condition is a charge state.35. The battery enclosure of claim 33, wherein the electronic circuitelement is further configured to provide an indication of the batterycondition responsive to switch actuation.
 36. The battery enclosure ofclaim 1, further comprising one or more light pipes configured totransmit light through the outer casing assembly.
 37. The batteryenclosure of claim 10, further comprising a face sealing elementconfigured to provide a seal between the one or more contacts and theouter casing assembly.
 38. The sealed battery enclosure of claim 1,further including a sealing element disposed between the lid element andthermally conductive structural housing element.
 39. The batteryenclosure of claim 25, wherein the LED is controlled by a pulse-widthmodulation (PWM) circuit.
 40. The battery enclosure of claim 25, whereinthe PWM circuit controls the LED output as a function of remainingbattery charge.
 41. The battery enclosure of claim 24, wherein thestatus indicator element comprises a first LED of a first color and asecond LED of a second color different than the first color.
 42. Thebattery enclosure of claim 41, wherein the first LED is a green LED andthe second LED is a red LED.
 43. The battery enclosure of claim 42,wherein the remaining battery charge is displayed using a combinationdisplay of the red LED and the green LED.
 44. The battery enclosure ofclaim 40, wherein the LED output is a varying frequency function of theremaining charge.
 45. The battery enclosure of claim 1, furtherincluding a memory and a processing element configured to transfer codestored in the memory to a coupled device.
 46. The battery enclosure ofclaim 1, further including a memory and a processing element configuredto transfer data stored in the memory to a coupled device.